Bhagat was born on April 22, 1974 in Delhi to a middle-class Punjabi family. His education was mostly in Delhi and he attended Army Public School until going to the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi to study Mechanical Engineering, and eventually graduating from the Indian Institute of Management. He started working in Investment Banking after graduating and spent 11 years working in Hong Kong before moving to Mumbai to pursue his passion for writing. He is married to Anusha Bhagat and the couple have two children.