Former RBI Governor Urjit Patel: Former RBI Governor Urjit Patel has been appointed as the Vice President of Beijing-based multilateral funding institution AIIB. This information has come to light on Sunday quoting sources. India has been a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) with the second highest voting share after China. It is chaired by China’s Vice Minister for Finance Jim Liqun.
Patel will be one of the five vice presidents
Patel, 58, will be one of the five vice presidents of AIIB, who have a three-year term. He is likely to take up the post next month. AIIB sources told PTI that they would take over the reins of Vice President DJ Pandian, who is currently in charge of AIIB’s sovereign and non-sovereign lending in South Asia, Pacific Islands and South-East Asia.
Dalal Street Week Ahead | Next week these 10 factors will be important for the market
Resigned from the post of RBI Governor in 2018
Pandian, who had earlier served as the Chief Secretary of Gujarat, is likely to return to India later this month. Patel took over as the 24th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on September 5, 2016, with the departure of Raghuram Rajan. In December 2018, Patel had resigned “due to personal reasons”, saying, “I have decided to resign from my current post with immediate effect.” Before taking over in September 2016, he was the deputy governor and looked after the monetary policy department in the RBI under Rajan and was known as the “inflation warrior”.
Why Patel’s posting is important for India
Pandian told during his farewell on Saturday that Patel’s posting in the AIIB is significant as India is seeking financial assistance of $6.7 billion from the bank for 28 of its projects. AIIB along with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is also processing a loan of $2 billion to buy COVID-19 vaccines for India. Of this $2 billion loan, Manila-based ADB is expected to get a loan of $1.5 billion, while AIIB is looking at $500 million. AIIB recently extended a loan of $3567 million for the expansion of the Chennai Metro Rail system. The bank has also funded the Bangalore Metro Rail project.
RIL to buy luxury hotel Mandarin Oriental in New York for $98 million
In his Farewell Interaction, Pandian tried to dispel the notion that AIIB is a Chinese bank, especially in India. He said that the bank has emerged as a multilateral bank and is becoming a leading financier for infrastructure projects in Asia.
.