Ila Patnaik is a consulting editor for 'The Indian Express'. Currently she is RBI Chair Professor, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) and non-resident senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In 2006, Ila Patnaik joined the NIPFP as Professor. Her research includes issues related to capital flows, business cycles, the financial sector and the study of Indian firms as India opens up its capital account. Before joining NIPFP, Ila Patnaik served as Senior Economist, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi between 1996-2002, and as Senior Fellow, Indian Council for Research in International Economic Relations (ICRIER) between 2002-2004. Ila Patnaik was a visiting scholar at the IMF between January 2003, in October 2010 and in February 2013. In September 2013, Ila joined Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think tank in Washington DC as a non-resident fellow. She has several publications in refereed journals and volumes. Ila Patnaik earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK in 1996. She has served on a number of committees on financial policy and regulation including the Ministry of Finance, Working Group on Foreign Investment, 2009-10, the Ministry of Finance, Internal Working Group on Internal Debt Management, 2008 and the RBI Working Group on Economic Indicators, 2001-2002.
In 2016, the RBI had been given a new mandate to meet its inflation target and maintain growth. Defending the currency at all costs isn’t part of the brief. This latest weakness will test its resolve.