URJIT Patel, the former governor of India’s central bank – the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) – has been appointed as a vice president of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a multilateral funding institution based in Beijing, China, sources in the bank said on Sunday (9).
India is a founding member of AIIB with the second-highest voting share after China. The bank is headed by Jin Liqun, a former Chinese vice minister for finance.
Patel, 58, will be one of the five vice presidents of the AIIB with a three-year tenure. He is likely to take over the office in February.
Patel, who served as the 24th RBI governor between September 2016 and December 2018 succeeding Raghuram Rajan, will succeed outgoing vice president D J Pandian, who is in charge of sovereign and non-sovereign lending of the AIIB in South Asia, the Pacific Islands and South-east Asia, the bank sources told the Press Trust of India.
Pandian had previously served as the chief secretary of the western state of Gujarat and is set to return to India later in January.
Patel resigned as the RBI governor in December 2018 “on account of personal reasons” saying “I have decided to step down from my current position effective immediately”.
Before he became the governor of India’s central bank, Patel was a deputy governor overseeing the monetary policy department at the RBI under his predecessor Rajan and was known as his “inflation warrior”.
Patel also worked with the International Monetary Fund, Boston Consulting Group and Reliance Industries, among other organisations.
His appointment to AIIB is considered a significant development as India has emerged as its biggest beneficiary by obtaining $6.7 billion (£4.9 billion) in funding for 28 projects, Pandian said at his farewell luncheon on Saturday (8).
The AIIB, along with the Asian Development Bank in the Philippines, is also processing a loan worth $2 billion (£1.4 billion) for India to buy vaccines to fight coronavirus.
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View of the entrance to Blickling Hall on a rainy autumn dayAmit Roy 
Kente cloth from Ghana in the Long Gallery in Blickling Hall 
Decoration in the Great Hall at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Palampore fragment made in coastal south-east India in the Brown Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Bed valance dating from early 1700s in the Italian Print Room at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Indian inspired fabric draped on sofas in the South Drawing Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Indian inspired fabric draped on sofas in the South Drawing Room with Indian carpet in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Karun Thakar has picked out the geometric patterns in the bookcase and the Kente cloth in the Long Gallery in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Large tapestry depicting Peter the Great defeating the Swedish army at the Battle of Poltava in 1709 Amit Roy 
ikat robes and arabachi coats in the Peter the Great Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
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Baghs and kanthas in the entrance Great Hall at Blickling Hall Amit Roy
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Kimono in Upper Ante Room in Blickling Hall 
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Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
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Unfinished 17th century Italian embroidery in the Print Room at Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
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A panel of Ashburnham bed hangings made in Gujarat for sale in Europe in the Brown Room in Blickling Hall Amit Roy 
Colcha made in the 1600s by women in Bengal for the Portuguese market in the Long Gallery at Blickling Hall Amit Roy
