[2] Shetty was born on 7 June 1957 in Bantwal, a small town in Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka, India.

He pursued his bachelor's degree in commerce from Shri Venkatramana Swamy College.

[2] Starting his career in the logistics industry in 1978 with Intermodal Transport and Trading Systems Private Limited, he subsequently moved to Forbes Gokak.

[6] In 2005, he steered the acquisition of global non-vessel operating common carrier ECU-Line (now ECU Worldwide).

[7][8] Several other mergers and acquisitions Shetty steered over the past decade which includes Gati Limited in 2020[9] and Nordicon in 2021.