Lord Desai was raised to the peerage as Baron Desai, of St Clement Danes in the City of Westminster in 1991. Lord Desai was raised to the peerage as Baron Desai, of St Clement Danes in the City of Westminster in 1991.

He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, in 2008. He is a member of AUT and the Chair of the Management Committee of City Roads. His career accomplishments include serving as an Associate specialist with the Department of Agricultural Economics, and Lecturer in Economics at the London School of Economics. He has served as the Opposition Spokesperson on Health and Treasury and Economic Affairs, and has four honorary doctorates. He unsuccessfully stood for the Speaker in the British House of Lords in 2011, the first ever non-UK born candidate to do so.

Lord Desai attended University of Bombay and the University of Pennsylvania. Lord Desai has special interests in economic policy, education and development, and is also the author of several publications on economics.