Bharat joined Mahindra & Mahindra in 1973 as an Executive. He served as Executive Vice President (Corporate Affairs) of Mahindra & Mahindra Limited from July 1991 to August 1992, when he joined the Board of the Company as Executive Director in charge of Finance & Accounts, Corporate Affairs, and Information Technology. In addition, he was the President of the Trade & Financial Services Sector from December 1994 to October 2007.  He was redesignated as Executive Director of Mahindra & Mahindra and Group CFO in 2007.

Bharat received his Master's degree in Law from Bombay University.  He is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He has also participated in the Program for Management Development (PMD) at Harvard Business School. He was also a Fellow of the Salzburg Seminar on "Asian Economies: Regional and Global Relationships" held in December 2000.

Bharat is Chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services and Mahindra Intertrade. He is also Director of several companies in the Mahindra Group.  He is an Independent Director of Godrej Consumer Products, Godrej Household Products and NSE.IT.

Bharat was a member of the High Powered Expert Committee constituted by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, on Making Mumbai an International Financial Center.  He is a member of the SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) Committee on Disclosures and Accounting Standards (SCODA).  He has been associated with the Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) for the last 30 years and served as its President for the year 2009-10.

Bharat was adjudged "India's Best CFO" by the leading business fortnightly Business Today (India Today Group Publication) in April 2005. He was also conferred the CFO of the Year Award for financial excellence by IMA India, an associate of The Economist Group, in December 2005. In November 2007, Bharat was honored with the CNBC CFO of the Year 2007 award.

Bharat’s other interests include teaching, reading, and chess. He lives in Mumbai with his wife, who is a practicing doctor.  They have one daughter.