Urjit Patel appointed Vice President of AIIB

Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel has been appointed as the vice-president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a multilateral development bank based in Beijing. India is a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) with the second highest voting share after China. It is headed by former Chinese vice minister for finance Jin Liqun. Patel will be one of the five Vice Presidents of the AIIB with a three-year tenure. He is expected to take over his posting next month.He will succeed outgoing Vice President D J Pandian, who is in charge of sovereign and non-sovereign lending of the AIIB in South Asia, the Pacific Islands and South-East Asia. Patel is currently the chairperson of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, a research centre affiliated to the finance ministry.  Patel quit his job as RBI governor in 2018. Patel's posting to AIIB is regarded as significant as India has emerged as its biggest beneficiary by obtaining USD 6.7 billion funding for 28 projects,

India is AIIB’s largest borrower since it was set up six years ago. Indonesia, Turkey, Bangladesh and China are the next four borrowers from the bank with over $7 billion investment. Except the US and Japan, most of the developed and developing countries have joined the bank.The AIIB had recently granted USD 356.67 million loan for the expansion of the Chennai metro rail system. It is also considering funding several other infrastructure projects for the development of Chennai city and its suburbs. The bank has also funded the Bengaluru metro rail project.