Dr. Urjit Patel, who has been appointed recently as Governor of Reserve Bank of India, was holding which position immediately prior to this appointment ?
- (a)Chief Economist, IMF
- (b)Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India
- (c)Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India
- (d)Professor of Economics at Harvard University
Correct — B, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India. Urjit Patel was already inside the Reserve Bank when he was raised to the top job. He had been a Deputy Governor from January 2013, holding the monetary policy portfolio, and it was in that capacity that he chaired the expert committee whose 2014 report pushed the Reserve Bank towards inflation targeting. He took over as the twenty-fourth Governor on 4 September 2016, succeeding Raghuram Rajan, and served until 11 December 2018.
- (a)Chief Economist, IMF — That post belongs to the man Urjit Patel replaced — Raghuram Rajan was Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund from 2003 to 2006. The option works as a trap precisely because the two names sit next to each other in the succession.
- (c)Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India — The Chief Economic Adviser at the time was Arvind Subramanian, who held the post from October 2014 to June 2018. He was never Governor, and Urjit Patel never held that advisory post.
- (d)Professor of Economics at Harvard University — No Reserve Bank Governor has come directly from a Harvard chair. Urjit Patel's route was through the Reserve Bank's own deputy governorship, after earlier stints at the International Monetary Fund and in the private sector.
The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India is appointed by the Central Government under Section 8 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, usually for a three-year term that may be extended. Governors have been drawn from three pools — serving Deputy Governors, senior civil servants, and academic economists — and the office carries the statutory duty of maintaining price stability while keeping growth in mind.
Appointment questions are current affairs with a short shelf life, but the underlying list is stable, so it pays to remember the sequence of recent Governors and where each came from. As of the April 2017 exam Urjit Patel was in office; he resigned in December 2018 and was succeeded by Shaktikanta Das, a former Revenue and Economic Affairs Secretary, who served until December 2024. Sanjay Malhotra took charge on 11 December 2024 and holds the office today.
- Urjit Patel was a Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank from January 2013 before becoming Governor on 4 September 2016.
- He was the twenty-fourth Governor and left office on 11 December 2018.
- Raghuram Rajan, his immediate predecessor, had earlier been Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund.
- The Governor is appointed by the Central Government under Section 8 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
- Attaching the International Monetary Fund line to Urjit Patel; that credential belongs to Raghuram Rajan.
- Treating the Chief Economic Adviser as a Reserve Bank post — it sits in the Union Finance Ministry.
NDA asks one or two 'who holds this office' questions per paper, so keep a running list of major appointments for the twelve months before the exam.
Consider the following statements : 1. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is appointed by the Central Government. 2. Certain provisions in the Constitution of India give the Central Government the right to issue directions to the RBI in public interest. 3. The Governor of the RBI draws his power from the RBI Act. Which of the above statements are correct?
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1,2 and 3
Answer(c) 1 and 3 only
The same office, tested on law rather than on the news. UPSC checks that you know the Governor is a creature of the Reserve Bank of India Act and not of the Constitution — the structural knowledge behind this NDA appointment question.
Who among the following is appointed as the tenth Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) recently?
- (a) A. S. Kiran Kumar
- (b) K. Sivan
- (c) K. Radhakrishnan
- (d) S. Somanath
Answer(d) S. Somanath
The same appointment format applied to a different institution, with the trap again built from previous holders of the very same post. Learn each office with its current and immediately preceding holder.
Which one of the following is the name of the dashboard launched recently by the Reserve Bank of India to assess and monitor the progress of financial inclusion by capturing relevant parameters ?
- (a) Pragya
- (b) Antardrishti
- (c) Divyachakshu
- (d) Antahgyan
Answer(b) Antardrishti
The Reserve Bank turns up in NDA current affairs almost every session, sometimes through its people and sometimes through its initiatives. Track both when revising the central bank.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under which law is the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India appointed?
- (a)The Banking Regulation Act, 1949
- (b)The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934
- (c)The Constitution of India
- (d)The Companies Act, 2013
Answer(b) The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 — Section 8 provides for the appointment by the Central Government.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Who among the following served as Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund before becoming Governor of the Reserve Bank of India?
- (a)Urjit Patel
- (b)Raghuram Rajan
- (c)Shaktikanta Das
- (d)D. Subbarao
Answer(b) Raghuram Rajan — he held that post from 2003 to 2006.