Meet RBI’s New Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta, Ex-IMF, Ex-World Bank Official Set To Join RBI Ahead of MPC Meet

Poonam Gupta, lead economist who has worked at World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been appointed as the Reserve Bank of India's Deputy Governor ahead of the crucial Monetary Policy Committee Meeting. After the Centre's approval of her appointment, Poonam Gupta, will succeed Michael D Patra.

Michael D Patra worked as RBI deputy governor from January 2020 to January 2025. His successor, Poonam Gupta has been appointed by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) for three years from the date of joining, reported PTI citing sources.

Poonam Gupta will join RBI after serving as the Director General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). Here are all the details about the economist set to become RBI top official.

Who is Poonam Gupta?

Poonam Gupta is the Director General at NCAER and will now serve as the RBI deputy governor. According to PTI, she will serve as RBI deputy governor for nearly three years from the date of appointment, which is yet to be confirmed. NCAER is one of India's largest economic policy think tank.

Member of PM's Economic Advisory Council

The newly appointed RBI deputy governor, Poonam Gupta is also a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister and Convenor of the Advisory Council to the 16th Finance Commission. Gupta joined NCAER's top leadership in 2021. Earlier she has also worked as a senior official at the IMF and World Bank in Washington DC.

Newly Appointed Deputy RBI Governor Poonam Gupta's Education

Poonam Gupta has pursued higher education from prestigious colleges and universities in India and across the world. She holds a Master's degree and PhD in Economics from University of Maryland, USA and a Master's degree in Economics from Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi.

After completing her higher education, Poonam Gupta also taught at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Maryland (USA). Additionally, she was also a visiting faculty at ISI, Delhi. She has also been the RBI Chair Professor at NIPFP and a Professor at ICRIER. Poonam Gupta also won the 1998 EXIM Bank award for her PhD on international economics. Her appointment as RBI deputy governor has come at a crucial juncture where the central bank's monetary policy committee meeting will be held in coming week.

RBI MPC

RBI in March released a calendar for financial year 2025-26. The first RBI MPC for FY 26 will be held from April 7 to April 9. RBI MPCs are held once in every two months and will continue till February 2026 as per the calendar released in March.

RBI MPC in April will be the second monetary policy committee meeting under the leadership of RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra. In February's RBI MPC, Malhotra had lowered the benchmark rate by 25 basis points (bps). Now, the current repo rate stands at 6.25% with a neutral stance of RBI.

The real GDP growth for the third quarter of financial year 2024-25 stood at 6.20%. Other GDP data revision in February's MPC underlined the growth slowdown in the Indian economy amid global market uncertainty and geopolitical tensions due to factors like US President Donald Trump's tariff announcement.