Former RBI Governor Urjit Patel has been appointed as a vice-president of Beijing-based multilateral funding institution AIIB, sources in the bank said on Sunday.

India is a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) with the second-highest voting share after China. Former Chinese vice-minister for finance Jin Liqun heads it.

Patel, 58, will be one of the five vice-presidents of the AIIB with a three-year tenure. He is expected to take over his posting next month. He will succeed outgoing vice-president D.J. Pandian, who is in charge of sovereign and non-sovereign lending of the AIIB in South Asia, the Pacific Islands, and South-East Asia, AIIB sources said

Patel had taken over as the 24th governor of the RBI succeeding Raghuram Rajan on September 5, 2016. Patel resigned in December 2018 “on account of personal reasons”, saying “I have decided to step down from my current position effective immediately”.

Before taking over on September 6, 2016, he was a deputy governor overseeing the monetary policy department at the RBI under Rajan and was known as his “inflation-warrior”.

Patel has previously worked with the International Monetary Fund, Boston Consulting Group and Reliance Industries among other organisations.

Patel’s posting to AIIB is regarded as significant as India has emerged as its biggest beneficiary by obtaining $6.7 billion funding for 28 projects, Pandian said in his farewell luncheon interaction on Saturday.

Also, the AIIB along with the Asian Development (ADB) is processing a $2 billion loan for India to purchase Covid-19 vaccines. Of the $2 billion loans, the Manila-based ADB is expected to finance $1.5 billion and AIIB is considering providing $500 million.

The AIIB had recently granted a $356.67 million loan for the expansion of the Chennai metro rail system.