Rajat Gupta was born in Maniktala, Calcutta on December 2, 1948. His parents were Ashwini Kumar Gupta and Pran Kumari Gupta, who had three other children. His father was a journalist with the Ananda Bazar Patrika Group.  He was a prominent freedom fighter and had been to jail many times. His mother taught at a Montessori school. When Rajat was five the family moved to Delhi, where his father went to start Hindustan Standard. Rajat was an outstanding student at Modern School. His father died when he was sixteen and his mother died when he was eighteen. He ranked 15th in the IIT Entrance Examination of 1966 and was admitted to to IIT Delhi on a schlorship. He obtained his B.Tech in mechanical engineering in 1971. Very soon after he came to USA and enrolled in the prestigious Harvard University Business School on a scholarship. He obtained his MBA in 1973. He had said in an interview that Harvard was easy for him because of the excellent education that he had received at IIT. His colleagues at Harvard described him as an excellent student who could see the big picture very quickly. He joined McKinsey in 1973 and never looked back. He helped the "Firm" establish the Copenhagen office. He was elected principal in 1980 and director in 1984. In 1994, he was elected CEO of McKinsey. He was the first Indian to successfully break through the "glass ceiling". He is on the Advisory boards of Harvard Business School and the Kellog Business School. He is married to his sweetheart from IIT days, Anita. His wife is an electrical engineer, who is described by Rajat, as "a much smarter student" than himself. She is two years junior toRajat and met at college debates and plays. They have four children.