NCAER DG Poonam Gupta appointed as RBI Deputy Governor for three-year term

Poonam Gupta (Source: EAC-PM website)

The government has appointed Poonam Gupta, the Director General of NCAER, as the fourth RBI Deputy Governor for a period of three years, according to an official document shared by CNBC-TV18. She will be replacing Michael Debabrata Patra who retired in January this year.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the appointment of Gupta, who is also a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. Before joining the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), Gupta served as the Lead Economist for Global Macro and Market Research at International Finance Corporation. She was also a professor earlier at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, as well as the Delhi School of Economics. Additionally, she was also a researcher at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Currently, Gupta is a member of the Advisory Council of the 16th Finance Commission.

The economist holds a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Maryland and two Master's degree in Economics; one from the Delhi School of Economics and the other from University of Maryland.

The central bank has four deputy governors; an economist to oversee the monetary policy department, one commercial banker, and two from within the ranks. The position of the fourth Deputy Governor remained vacant for over two months after Patra’s retirement.

Poonam Gupta's appointment comes ahead of RBI’s Monetary Policy Meeting that is scheduled to take place from April 7 to April 9.