[1] Parekh was born in the village of Amalsad in the province of Gujarat, India;[2] his father was a goldsmith with a basic education.

[3] Parekh was admitted to the University of Bombay at the age of 15,[2] and earned a bachelor's degree there in 1954 and a Master's in 1956.

[4] Parekh has also served on the Commission for Racial Equality (including a spell as vice-chairman) and has held membership of a number of bodies concerned with issues of racial equality and multiculturalism – most notably as Chairman of the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain from 1998 to 2000.

He was appointed a life peer on 10 May 2000 as Baron Parekh, of Kingston upon Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

On 11 July 2011, Parekh was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Social Sciences (DSoc Sci) from Nottingham Trent University.