Former RBI governor Urjit Patel resigns as independent director of Britannia Industries Limited

Urjit Patel (Image: File Image)

Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel has resigned from the post of non-executive and independent director of Britannia Industries Limited, citing a full-time work assignment starting next month.

“It has been a pleasure to have been a part of the Board of the Company. Due to my new full-time work assignment starting next month, the attendant time constraint has compelled me to tender my resignation as an independent Director of Britannia Industries Ltd. from January 31, 2022," Patel said in a letter that was uploaded on the exchanges late on January 28.

The former governor also confirmed that there was no other reason other than what he has mentioned for the resignation.

Patel was recently appointed vice president for investment operations in South Asia at the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). His appointment is effective from 1 February, AIIB had said in a statement earlier this month.

He had joined Britannia in March 2021 as an additional director of the company in the category of non-executive and independent director, and his appointment was for a period of five years, which would have ended in 2026.

As the 24th governor of RBI, Patel had succeeded Raghuram Rajan and served as the governor of RBI from 2016-2018. Prior to that, he was RBI’s deputy governor in charge of monetary policy.

Prior to public service, he had worked in the private sector for about fifteen years. Patel started his professional career at the International Monetary Fund. He has also been a consultant to the center’s finance ministry.