after we recruited urjit patel at idfc we worked together for nine years i think his appointment as rbi governor is an excellent choice as it will bring stability and there will be no uncertainty in any indian company or even a multinational i have noticed over the decades that 9 out of 10 times an insider is preferred to a new person to avoid disruption even in our company if we have a good candidate we prefer to look insideurjit has the experience of the public sector he has worked in the government and the finance ministry he has worked in startup infrastructure financing he was the main person helping the government form policies on roads airports ports power and telecom the last two being his speciality at idfc we have sat together on many committees including those headed by arun shourie jaswant singh and george fernandesin the years at idfc he showed business instinct and acumen and is extremely strong in infra policy later he was elevated to the board of idfc and has seen how the core sector works he has also served on the boards of sbi and the national housing bank and knows how banks functionpatel has seen from the other side the difficulties in infra funding indias biggest problem today is lack of infrastructure and the biggest banking problem is that infra loans that banks have advanced are turning bad patel has experience on all sides lending recovering policy and now as a regulatoryounger people becoming governors is a very good trend which prime minister narendra modi and the finance ministry have continued raghuram rajan was 50 when he was named the governor and patel is also in his early 50s a younger person will always be more energetic than a retired individual becoming the governor and you cannot dispute urjits qualifications oxford university of london and university of yaleuntil now patel was handling one part of the rbi his job did not require him to meet many bankers which might have made him come across as aloof now he has to oversee and supervise four deputy governors his job broadens significantly and it is not just monetary policy anymore he is a bit reserved but approachable and accessiblerajan has initiated several policies in the last three years new fullfledged small and payments banks opening up the banking system getting ready for basel iii recapitalization of banks handling forex astutely and all that would evolve under patelas told to mayur shetty