Urjit Ravindra Patel is an Indian economist, who is currently serving as 24th Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) since September 2016. Previously, as an RBI deputy governor, he looked after monetary policy, economic policy research, statistics and information management, deposit insurance, communication and Right to Information. Appointed by the Narendra Modi government, Patel succeeded Raghuram Rajan as RBI governor on 4 September 2016.
Patel obtained his Bachelor's in Economics from the London School of Economics , M. Phil. degree from Oxford University in 1986. He received his doctorate in Economics from Yale University in 1990. He was at IMF India desk during the 1991–94 transition period. He was posted to IMF country mission in India 1992–95. He has also been a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution since 2009. Mahudha in Kheda district of Gujarat is his ancestral village.