[4] Balakrishnan holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Kerala and an MBA from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (1971).
[9] He has co-authored a research paper, Generic Framework for a Recommendation System using Collective Intelligence,[10] with Alkesh Patel which was presented at the International Conference on Internet Technology and Secured Transactions, 2009.
Balakrishnan served as the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIM Calcutta for two five-year terms ending in March 2017.
[14] He served as the chairman of the Govt of India, Ministry of Information Technology Working Group on Internet Governance and Proliferation.
He chaired a committee appointed by India's Ministry of Human Resource Development on 'Research and Faculty Enhancement at the 7 IIMs'.