The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has appointed Poonam Gupta as its latest Deputy Governor. She is the first female to take on this position in over ten years. Her appointment occurs at a moment when the RBI is expected to ease its monetary policies to boost economic growth.
Poonam Gupta is a renowned economist with almost 20 years of experience at both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Poonam has also served as a government advisor in India. Previously, she held the position of Director General at the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), a prominent think tank located in New Delhi.
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Gupta succeeds Michael Patra, who headed the RBI’s monetary policy division prior to his retirement in January.
She is anticipated to become part of the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), which has decreased interest rates for the first time in five years with the new Governor, Sanjay Malhotra.
Poonam Gupta has actively expressed her views on important economic matters. In recent articles, she has advocated for a more adaptable exchange rate to assist India in managing economic shocks more effectively. In a March piece for The Economic Times, she proposed that India ought to rethink its strategy for handling foreign exchange reserves.
She has also highlighted the significance of price stability and proposed revising the weight of food prices in the inflation index. Her perspectives will be important as the RBI and the central government evaluate the inflation-targeting framework in 2026.
