JerrodOverstreet at 22:53, 25 March 2026

2026-03-25T22:53:46Z

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{{Short description|Indian banker}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Indraprasad Gordhanbhai Patel
| honorific_suffix =
| image = I. G. Patel.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = I. G. Patel, 1984
| office1 = 9th Director of the [[London School of Economics and Political Science]]
| term_start1 = 1984
| term_end1 = 1990
| predecessor1 = [[Ralf Dahrendorf]]
| successor1 = [[John Ashworth (biologist)|John Ashworth]]
| office3 = Deputy Administrator of<br />[[United Nations Development Programme]]
| term_start3 = 1972
| term_end3 = 1977
| predecessor3 =
| successor3 =
| office4 = 2nd [[Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India]]
| term4 = 1965–1967
| term5 = 1961–1963
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1924|11|11}}
| birth_place = [[Vadodara]], [[Gujarat]], [[India]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2005|07|17|1924|11|11}}
| death_place = [[New York City]], U.S.
| resting_place = [[Vadodara]], [[Gujarat]], [[India]]
| resting_place_coordinates =
| residence =
| citizenship = ]
| known_for =
| alma_mater = [[University of Mumbai]]<br />[[King's College, Cambridge]] ([[PhD]])
| occupation = [[Economist]]<br>[[Indian Economic Service]]<ref name="IES Modi">{{cite news|title=Modi and economics|newspaper=Business Standard India|date=25 December 2015|url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/t-c-a-srinivasa-raghavan-modi-and-economics-115122500656_1.html|publisher=[[Business Standard]]|access-date=23 December 2016|last1=Srinivasa-Raghavan|first1=T. C. A.}}</ref><ref name="Patel IES">{{cite news|title=Obituary: Dr I.G. Patel|url=https://www.ft.com/content/14f491aa-039a-11da-b54a-00000e2511c8|newspaper=[[Financial Times]]|date=2 August 2005|access-date=23 December 2016}}</ref>
| predecessor2 = [[M. Narasimham]]
| successor2 = [[Manmohan Singh]]
| party =
| spouse = Alakanada Patel
| partner =
| children =
| relations =
| signature = I. G. Patel signature-en.jpg
| website =
| footnotes =
| term_start2 = 1 December 1977
| term_end2 = 15 September 1982
| order2 = 14th [[List of Governors of Reserve Bank of India|Governor of Reserve Bank of India]]
}}

'''Indraprasad Gordhanbhai Patel''' (11 November 1924 – 17 July 2005),<ref name="Independent">{{cite news
|url =https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/i-g-patel-300283.html
|title =I. G. Patel Economic statesman and Director of LSE
|date =2005-07-20
|access-date =2008-09-15
|work =The Independent}}</ref><ref>[http://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2005/IGPatel_Obituary.aspx Dr Indraprasad Gordhanbhai Patel (1924-2005) ] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722161512/http://www.lse.ac.uk/newsAndMedia/news/archives/2005/IGPatel_Obituary.aspx |date=22 July 2013 }} London School of Economics and Political Science Retrieved 9 August 2013</ref> popularly known as '''I. G. Patel''', was an Indian economist and civil servant who is best known as the fourteenth Governor of the [[Reserve Bank of India]], and the ninth director of the [[London School of Economics|London School of Economics and Political Science]] (LSE).

As LSE's director, Patel was the first person of [[India]]n origin to head a higher education institution in the [[United Kingdom]]. After his stint at LSE, Patel served as Chairman of the [[Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad]]. He was well known for his formidable intellectual powers in the select company of elite central bankers and statesmen such as the "Committee of the Thirty" set up by the former German Chancellor [[Helmut Schmidt]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/i-g-patel-300283.html|title=I. G. Patel|website=[[Independent.co.uk]]|date=2005-07-19|language=en-GB|access-date=2016-09-24}}</ref>

He also served as Deputy Administrator at the United Nations Development Programme headquarters in [[New York City|New York]].

==Education==
Patel stood first in the [[Matriculation]] examination and established a record score that was never beaten {{citation needed|date=June 2023}}. He then came top in his B.A. at the [[University of Bombay]]. He later earned [[Doctor of Philosophy]] in economics from [[King's College, Cambridge|King's College]] at [[University of Cambridge]] with a scholarship from the [[Gaekwad]]s of Baroda. Patel chose to write his PhD dissertation on “Foreign Trade and Economic Development”.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-03-25 |title=I.G. Patel |url=https://azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/indian-economists/i-g-patel |access-date=2025-06-12 |website=Azim Premji University |language=en-IN}}</ref> His tutor [[Austin Robinson]] regarded him as his best tutee over his entire tenure as a fellow of King's {{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

==Career==
===Civil Service===
He was a member of the [[Indian Economic Service]] and served in [[Government of India]]. He held the rank and post of Special Secretary in the [[Ministry of Finance (India)|Ministry of Finance]] and later [[Secretary to the Government of India|
Secretary to Government of India]] (Economic Affairs) in the [[Ministry of Finance (India)|Ministry of Finance]].

===Academic career===
Patel returned to India and joined [[Baroda College]] as a Professor of Economics and as the Principal in 1949. Edward M. Bernstein, later his mentor, invited him to join the Research Department of the [[International Monetary Fund]] in 1950. After five years there, Patel came back to Delhi as an Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Finance in 1954 and spent the next 18 years in one or another top capacity in the Government of India.

In 1972 he became the Deputy Administrator of the [[UN Development Programme]] for five years, returning only to take up the position of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. It was during this period marked by turbulence in the foreign exchange markets that Patel's formidable intellectual powers came into use in sessions of the Bank for International Settlements. In 1982 he was appointed Director<ref name="Director-IIMA">{{Cite web|url=https://archives.iima.ac.in/director/Dr-IG-Patel.html|title = Dr I.G. Patel @ Archives}}</ref> of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, which he helped launch on a trajectory to become the best management school in India.

But again Patel was picked up to serve abroad. In 1984, he was chosen to be the Director of LSE, where he improved the school's finances and added several properties to its portfolio, as well as securing the freehold of the school's Old Building in Houghton Street. He had to handle student protests about LSE's investments in South Africa and their support of Winston Silcott, who had been convicted of the murder of a police officer in the [[Broadwater Farm]] riots in Tottenham. Patel handled both the situations with tact and firmness but also with a sympathetic understanding of students' concerns about racism. His initiatives, too, in setting up an innovative inter-departmental forum bore fruit in the Interdisciplinary Management Institute and the Development Studies Institute.

===RBI Governor===
The [[Indian Rupee]] notes of 1000, 5000 and 10,000 denominations and the gold auctions were demonetized during his tenure (he later featured on a special commemorative 1000 rupee note). However, the 1000 notes had to be reintroduced later.<ref>{{cite web
|url = http://www.taxmann.net/Bankinglaws/Banking%20Manual/Fourteen/CONT14.htm
|title = High Denomination Bank Notes (Demonetisation) Act, 1978
|access-date = 2006-12-08
|publisher = Taxmann.net}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>

In later life, he taught at the [[Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda]], [[Vadodara]].<ref>{{cite web
|url =http://www.msubaroda.ac.in/techo/mandiscl0910/General_Information_2009-10.pdf
|title =MANDATORY DISCLOSURE 2009-2010
|access-date =2010-02-08
|publisher =MAHARAJA SAYAJIRAO UNIVERSITY
|archive-date =6 June 2011
|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110606061858/http://www.msubaroda.ac.in/techo/mandiscl0910/General_Information_2009-10.pdf
|url-status =dead
}}</ref> and in 1991 Patel was requested by then Prime Minister [[P. V. Narasimha Rao]] to assume the responsibility of the finance minister of India, but this offer was declined by him.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.indiatoday.com/itoday/20020225/jairam.shtml |title=Time To Tune In To FM |access-date=12 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041229083426/http://www.indiatoday.com/itoday/20020225/jairam.shtml |archive-date=29 December 2004 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> He was bestowed the [[Padma Vibhushan]] award in 1991 for his furthering of the field of economic science.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://india.gov.in/myindia/padmavibhushan_awards_list1.php
|title=Padma Vibhushan Awardees
|access-date=2008-09-15
|publisher=National Portal of India, GOI
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080131164854/http://india.gov.in/myindia/padmavibhushan_awards_list1.php
|archive-date=31 January 2008
|df=dmy-all
}}</ref> Indraprasad Gordhanbhai Patel was known as [[Baba (honorific)|Baba]] 'IG' from his childhood days in [[Vadodara]], then the capital of the princely state ruled by the [[Gaekwad dynasty|Gaekwads]] of [[Baroda]], where he was born. The post of I.G. Patel Professor of Economics and Government at the [[London School of Economics]] was created in his honour; it is currently held by [[Nicholas Stern]].

==Personal life==
He married Alaknanda Dasgupta, daughter of renowned professor of economics Amiya Kumar Dasgupta and sister of renowned economist [[Partha Dasgupta|Sir Partha Dasgupta]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-edu}}
{{s-bef | before = [[Ralf Dahrendorf]]}}
{{s-ttl | title = [[London School of Economics|Director of the London School of Economics]]
| years = 1984–1990}}
{{s-aft | after = [[John Ashworth (vice-chancellor)|John Ashworth]]}}
{{s-bef | before = }}
{{s-ttl | title = [[Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad|Chairperson of the Board of Governors at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad]]
| years = 1996 to 2001}}
{{s-aft | after = }}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef|before=JJ Anjaria}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India|Chief Economic Adviser of India]]|years=1961–1963<br />1965-1967}}
{{s-aft|after=VK Ramaswamy}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[M. Narasimham]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of governors of the Reserve Bank of India|Governor of the Reserve Bank of India]]|years=1977–1982}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Manmohan Singh]]}}
|-
{{s-dip}}
{{s-bef|before=}}
{{s-ttl|title=Deputy Administrator of the [[United Nations Development Programme]]|years=1972–1977}}
{{s-aft|after=}}
{{s-end}}

{{Governors of Reserve Bank of India}}
{{Padma Vibhushan Awards}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patel, I G}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:University of Mumbai alumni]]
[[Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:United Nations Development Programme officials]]
[[Category:International Monetary Fund people]]
[[Category:Governors of the Reserve Bank of India]]
[[Category:Indian bankers]]
[[Category:Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:Indian institute directors]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian economists]]
[[Category:People associated with the London School of Economics]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan in science & engineering]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda]]
[[Category:Indian academic administrators]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian economists]]
[[Category:Chief Economic Advisers to the Government of India]]
[[Category:Gujarati people]]

I. G. Patel - Revision history

JerrodOverstreet at 22:53, 25 March 2026