Raghu Rai qualified as civil engineer and started photography at the age of 23 in 1965. He joined The Statesman newspaper as their chief photographer (1966 to 1976), and was then Picture Editor with Sunday—a weekly news magazine published from Calcutta (1977 to 1980).
A special exhibition and picture book was created on India and Mexico in year 2002 by the top three photographers Graciela Iturbide (Mexico) and Sebastiao Salagado (France) and Raghu Rai (India). Mr. Rai is the only photographer in the world to get ' Academie Des Beaux Art' Paris Awards 2019 - one of the highest awards in photography, ever given to a living photographer.
Raghu Rai is set to participate in the Bihar Museum Biennale 2023, showcasing his artistic prowess and creative vision.