Mr. Urjit Patel took over as Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India succeeding Mr. Subir Gokarn, whose term ended on December 31st. the central bank said in the statement that Mr. Patel has been offered a three-year term which will end on January, 2016.

Patel has been given charge of departments like monetary policy, economic research and policy, statistics and information management, financial markets and others. The department of risk monitoring which was earlier handled by Mr. Gokarn, has now been given to another deputy governor, Mr. Anand Sinha.

The Reserve Bank of India has four deputy governors. Apart from Mr. Patel and Mr. Sinha, the others are Mr. H R Khan and Mr. K C Chakraborty.

Mr. Patel's immediate task will be to offer his views in framing the monetary policy for the third quarter review that is to be announced in January 29th. RBI is expected to cut interest rates for the first time to revive growth since April.