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Urjit Patel Biography: Age, Career, Family and More

F4U Editorial Desk • Updated October 16, 2026 • 3 min read

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Quick Info

Date of birth28 October 1963

Age61 Years (as of 2024)

BirthplaceNairobi, Kenya

ProfessionEconomist

NationalityIndian

FamilyFather - Ravindra Patel; Mother - Manjula; Sister - lives in New Jersey, United States

Urjit Patel Biography

Urjit Ravindra Patel is an Indian economist who has held senior roles at the International Monetary Fund, the Reserve Bank of India, and the Asian Infra­st

Early life and background

Urjit Ravindra Patel was born on 28 October 1963 in Nairobi, Kenya. He grew up in a Gujarati family; his grandfather moved to Kenya from Gujarat in the early 20th century and his father ran a spare-parts business in Nairobi. Patel attended community schools in Nairobi, including a Gujarati community primary school and Jamhuri High School.

Education

Patel completed his undergraduate degree at the London School of Economics and went on to receive an M.Phil. from the University of Oxford. He earned a doctorate in economics from Yale University in 1990.

Career

After completing his Ph.D., Patel joined the International Monetary Fund and worked on desks that included the Bahamas, India, the United States and Myanmar between 1990 and 1995. In 1996–1997 he was deputed from the IMF to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Following that deputation, he served as a consultant to India’s Ministry of Finance (Department of Economic Affairs) from 1998 to 2001.

Patel returned to India’s central bank system in the 2010s. In 2013 he was appointed a Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and led a committee on monetary policy reform. He was re-appointed as Deputy Governor in 2016 and on 4 September 2016 became the 24th Governor of the RBI.

In December 2018, Patel resigned from the governorship, citing personal reasons in his resignation letter. In January 2022 he took up an international role as a vice-president of the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for a three-year term. The excerpt also notes a later appointment: on 28 August 2025 he was named India’s Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund for a three-year term, replacing KV Subramanian.

Public profile

Patel is commonly described in professional settings as an economist, banker and consultant. The available information indicates he learned Gujarati and Hindi after moving to India. Colleagues and profiles have portrayed him as having a small circle of friends and as personally modest in lifestyle: at one point he lived with his mother in a small apartment in Mumbai.

Other details

Patel held Kenyan citizenship early in his career and worked at the IMF as a Kenyan national. Before becoming Deputy Governor of the RBI in 2013, he had applied for an Indian passport; his recommendation to the Home Ministry included a letter from then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The excerpt records that Patel declined an earlier offer to head the BRICS bank in Shanghai. It also reports that his resignation as RBI Governor occurred amid a dispute with the central government, though the resignation letter itself states personal reasons. The later international posts at AIIB and the IMF reflect continued engagement in multilateral finance.

Latest updates

In January 2022 Patel began a three-year term as one of five vice-presidents at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. According to the same reporting, on 28 August 2025 he was appointed India’s Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund for a three-year term.

Personal life

Patel’s parents are named Ravindra and Manjula. He has a sister who lives in New Jersey, United States. The excerpt lists his religion as Hinduism and gives his hobbies as reading and traveling. Public details about his marital status or spouse are not provided in the material available.

Editorial Review and Sources

This F4U profile is written from publicly available career and profile information, then reviewed for clarity before publication. If you spot an outdated detail about Urjit Patel, send the page URL and a reliable correction source to f4udotin@gmail.com.

Reference context: StarsUnfolded

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Recent Work

Vice-President, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)

Appointed as one of five vice-presidents of the Beijing-based AIIB for a three-year term beginning in January 2022.

2022
Executive Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF) for India

Appointed India’s Executive Director at the IMF for a three-year term beginning 28 August 2025.

2025
Governor, Reserve Bank of India

Served as the 24th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, taking office on 4 September 2016 and resigning on 10 December 2018.

2016-2018
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Career Highlights

  1. Doctorate in Economics from Yale University (1990)
  2. Worked at the International Monetary Fund (1990–1995)
  3. Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (appointed 2013; re-appointed 2016)
  4. 24th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (4 September 2016 – 10 December 2018)
  5. Vice-President, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (appointed January 2022)
  6. India’s Executive Director at the IMF (appointed 28 August 2025)
Reviewed by F4U Editorial Desk

F4U profile pages are prepared from public career information, checked for readability, and updated when reliable correction sources are shared with the editorial team.

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When was Urjit Patel born?

Urjit Patel was born on 28 October 1963.

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Urjit Patel is known for economist.