Hirubhai Mulljibhai Patel CIE (27 August 1904 — 30 November 1993) was an Indian civil servant who played a major role in the issues regarding internal and national security in the first years after the independence of India.

He graduated from St Catherine's College, Oxford with a major in economics and joined the Indian Civil Service in October 1927.

Up to independence, Patel worked with Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, the future Prime Minister of Pakistan, and Walter John Christie on the preparation and implementation of the crucial document The Administrative Consequences of Partition.

[6] He was the head of the Emergency Committee administering Delhi in the days following the outbreak of massive violence following the Partition of India in 1947.

He changed many of India's socialist economic policies, ending barriers to foreign investment and reducing tariffs while protecting home industries.

[10] Patel wrote two books: Rites of Passage: A Civil Servant Remembers and The First Flush of Freedom: Recollections and Reflections.

[12] He was a senior ranking functionary of the Sumati Morarjee Shipping Company after his retirement from the Indian civil service.