Ravi Joshi passed the Civil Services exams in 1977 and, after a ten-year stint in the Ministry of Defense, joined the Indian external intelligence service, the Research & Analysis Wing, and served for over 25 years. He has had three diplomatic assignments: in the Maldives, Kenya, and Austria. During his tenure in the R&AW, he has served on several vital desks handling China, Pakistan, Russia, Central Asia, Iran, and West Asia and has traveled widely in all those countries.
After his retirement in 2013, he joined the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, as a Visiting Fellow. He has written extensively on international affairs for several print and online media organizations such as the Economic Times, The Quint, and The Open Magazine. Since 2019 he has settled down in Mysore and has been writing regularly on the national political scene for the Deccan Herald and occasionally for The Wire
