His mother's name was Gouri Devi, and father was Fanindra Nath Manna, who had ancestral house in Ramnathpur, Hooghly.

[19] Manna started his playing career with Howrah Union, then a club in the second Division of the Kolkata Football League, in 1940.

[23] Speaking to Sportstar in 2006, he reasoned that he "played out of love for the sport and was happy with the salary I got from my employer, the Geological Survey of India.

[23] He also represented Bengal football team in Santosh Trophy and played alongside Sheoo Mewalal,[25] winning the tournament in 1953–54 season defeating Mysore 3–1 in final.

[26] Manna was part of the India national team managed by Balaidas Chatterjee[27][28] that participated at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.

[35][36][37] Manna played in the tournament in bare feet; their bravery earned admiration of Princess Margaret of England.

[38][39] With India, he later went on to play few friendly matches with captain Talimeren Ao in their Nederlands tour, where they went down to Sparta Rotterdam but won 5–1 against Ajax Amsterdam.

[17] Manna was also the captain of the Syed Abdul Rahim managed Indian team in 1952 Helsinki Olympics[48] and a member of the 1954 Asian Games.

[56][57][58] Manna also appeared with the India against numerous visiting European teams in exhibition matches in 1954, including a 1–0 defeat to Allsvenskan club AIK at CC&FC Ground in Kolkata.