The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has appointed Poonam Gupta as the new Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India for three years.  

Gupta is the Director General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research. She is also a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and Convener of the Advisory Council to the 16th Finance Commission. Her research has been featured in publications like The Economist, Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal.

She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland and a Master’s degree from the Delhi School of Economics. She has been a professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations and the Delhi School of Economics. She has also worked as a researcher at the International Monetary Fund .

The appointment follows the retirement of Michael Patra in January. The selection process began in November 2024, with interviews concluding by mid-January 2025. The final shortlist included economists such as Prachi Mishra, Chetan Ghate, N.R. Bhanumurthy, and Suresh Babu, along with bureaucrats Ashish Vachhani and Ritvik Pandey. Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran was also considered.

Challenges Ahead
Gupta is likely to be in-charge of monetary policy and will participate in the upcoming RBI MPC meeting scheduled on April 7-9. This will be her first meeting as Deputy Governor, where the committee will decide on interest rates and inflation management.  
As Deputy Governor for monetary policy, she will shape the RBI’s communication with financial markets and policymakers. Her approach in the upcoming MPC meeting will indicate the direction of monetary policy in the months ahead.

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