Rama himself was educated in Penang Free School and joined the civil service in 1955 at a time when Malaya was approaching independence.
[3][4] As a civil servant, he served as secretary-general of three ministries: Planning and Socio-Economic Research; Works and Public Utilities; and Primary Industries.
[5] Rama Iyer also established the Malaysian International Shipping Corporation and later Malaysian Airline System (MAS) where he served as its first chairman for three years following the split of Malaysian-Singapore Airlines (MSA) in 1971.
[7] Another brother, G. Krishna Iyer, served as headmaster of Penang Free School from 1983 to 1988.
[4] At the time of his death on March 17, 2020, Rama Iyer was survived by his wife Puan Sri Vijayalakshmi, daughters Lavanya and Soumya, and sons Srihari and Badhri.