The Bhattacharyyas were an aristocratic zamindar family based in the Dacca district of the Bengal Presidency of British India (now Bangladesh).

[10] 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[11][12] in 2008 and the investment in the National Automotive Innovation Centre at the University of Warwick.

Margaret Thatcher called Bhattacharyya "a true pioneer" in a 1990 speech opening WMG's Advanced Technology Centre.

[14] A decade later, Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair said WMG was "an outstanding example of combining academic excellence with industrial relevance.

"[15] 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".

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

His focus was on policy areas such as business and industry, economy and finance, education, international affairs and science and technology.

[28] His nomination for the Royal Society reads: "Kumar Bhattacharyya is the founder and leader of the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) whose mission is to improve the competitiveness of industry through innovative collaborative research, educational and knowledge transfer programmes WMG employs over 300 staff with a similar number seconded from industry.

Kumar Bhattacharyya was the primary architect of the Integrated Graduate Development Scheme, now considered best practice in CPD by many Universities, and was the first to run the Eng Doc programme on similar principles.