Kumar Bhattacharyya was born in Bangalore, the elder son of Sudhir Kumar Bhattacharyya (1909–1987) and Hemanalini Chakraborty. Of Bengali origin, the Bhattacharyyas were a zamindari family from Dhaka District (then in the Bengal Presidency of British India and now in Bangladesh). At the time, his father, a distinguished professor of physical chemistry and subsequently Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, was a professor at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, where Bhattacharyya spent the first 12 years of his life. In 1952, upon his father’s appointment as head of the chemistry department at the new Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the family moved to Kharagpur.

Bhattacharyya studied Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, taking his Bachelor of Technology (BTech) degree in 1960. The following year, he moved to Britain, where he worked for six years as a graduate apprentice at Lucas Industries, a large British manufacturing company. During this time, he studied at the University of Birmingham, where he was awarded a Master of Science (MSc) degree in engineering production and management, followed by a PhD in engineering production in 1970. While completing his PhD at Birmingham, he was appointed as a lecturer and began the process of establishing a manufacturing education programme for industry there.

In 1980, he moved to the University of Warwick and, with the support of Vice-Chancellor Jack Butterworth, he founded WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group) of which he served as chairman until his death. WMG is now one of the largest academic departments of the university and is known for its collaborative research and education programmes with industry. During this time, he was instrumental in brokering significant partnerships for UK manufacturing including the takeover of Jaguar Land Rover by Indian firm Tata Motors in 2008 and the investment in the National Automotive Innovation Centre at the University of Warwick.

Lord Bhattacharyya’s contribution to innovation in academia and industry led to several prime ministerial visits to WMG. Margaret Thatcher called Bhattacharyya “a true pioneer” in a 1990 speech opening WMG’s Advanced Technology Centre. A decade later, Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair said WMG was “an outstanding example of combining academic excellence with industrial relevance.” In a 2007 speech, Blair’s successor, Gordon Brown, said that WMG “provides a prime example of how the knowledge created in our universities can be transferred to make a difference in the real world”.

Bhattacharyya was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1997 New Year Honours and knighted in 2003. On 3 June 2004, he was created a life peer as Baron Bhattacharyya of Moseley in the County of West Midlands. He sat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords.

In 2002, Andrew Lorenz wrote a book about Bhattacharyya’s career and the growth of WMG, entitled Kumar Bhattacharyya: The Unsung Guru.

In 2014, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). He was also a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a number of other professional bodies including the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Indian National Academy of Engineering and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

In 2016, Prime Minister Theresa May visited WMG with Chancellor Philip Hammond as part of her government’s development of a UK Industrial Strategy.

In November 2018, Coventry City Council deputy leader Abdul Khan announced that the council had asked the University of Warwick to rename part of University Road as Lord Bhattacharyya Way. The university agreed, and additionally announced that the UK’s National Automotive Innovation Centre building, which will be sited on Lord Bhattacharyya Way, would be named The Lord Bhattacharyya building.

Bhattacharyya and his Irish wife, Bridget, had three daughters, Anita, Tina and Malini. As well as Bengali and English, he either spoke or understood Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. He wrote a regular opinion column for the Birmingham Post. Bhattacharyya died on 1 March 2019 following a short illness.