Datta has demonstrated the development of genetically engineered Indica rice from protoplast derived from haploid embryogenic cell suspension culture.

Datta had served as Deputy Director General (DDG-Crop Science) in Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi.

At the early stage, Datta was associated as a lecturer in botany with Ramkrishna Mission, Vivekananda Centenary College, West Bengal, India from 1976 to 1979.

For a short span of time in 1993, he joined as a staff research scientist at International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi.

Datta moved to join International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Manila, Philippines as Senior Plant Biotechnologist in 1993.

He established Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Laboratory and became the coordinator of Translational Rice Research Programme funded by DBT, Govt.

In 2009, he was appointed as DDG (Crop Science), ICAR, the apex body of India for coordinating, guiding, and managing research and education in agriculture, and served there up to 30.01.2015.