Poonam Gupta assumed charge as the fourth deputy governor and in-charge of the key monetary policy department of the Reserve Bank effective Friday.
The RBI also rejigged the portfolios of the deputy governors. The government had appointed Gupta as a deputy governor on April 2, for a period of three years from the date of joining. “As a deputy governor, Gupta will look after the monetary policy department, financial markets operations department, department of economic and policy research, financial stability department, international department, department of statistics and information management, corporate strategy and budget department and department of communication,” the RBI said in a statement.
She joins the central bank in place of Michael Patra who retired on January 15, 2025. After the reallocation of the portfolios, the senior most deputy governor M Rajeshwar Rao, who was officiating as the head of the monetary policy department will now be handling co-ordination, departments of regulation, enforcement, legal department, risk monitoring, and secretarial department.
Immediately prior to her appointment at the RBI, Gupta was the director general of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). She also served as member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and as convener of the advisory council to the 16th Finance Commission.
Before NCAER, she had also worked with the IMF and the World Bank and also taught at the Delhi School of Economics. She was also the RBI chair professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and a professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).
Gupta has PhD in economics from the University of Maryland, US, and a master’s in economics from the Delhi School of Economics, the University of Delhi.