Dato’ B Bhaskaran Pillai studied at the Malacca High School before being admitted to the Royal Military College where he completed his Higher School Certificate. He was then awarded a scholarship by the Malaysian Armed Forces to attend University Science Malaysia (USM) at Penang. Dato’ Bhaskaran holds a BSc(Hons) degree from University Science Malaysia, Diploma in Education and Diploma in Strategic Studies from University Malaya and Bachelor of Laws (LLB) Honours degree from the University of Aberystwyth, Wales.

He served the Malaysian Armed Forces as a Military Education Officer from 1979 to 1988. While in the Army, Dato’ Bhaskaran received a Letter of Appreciation for Outstanding Service from the Komandan of the Royal Military College Malaysia. He joined DRB-HICOM in 1991 as Dep GM of Automotive Corporation Malaysia (ACM) and was appointed CEO of ACM in 1995. He was responsible for improving the revenue and profitability of ACM. In 24 months annual revenue increased from RM 205 million to RM 750 million.

PBT (profit before tax) increased from RM 7 million to RM 100 million. Dato’ Bhaskaran was also concurrently Executive Director of DRB-HICOM Defence Technologies (1996-1999). He was appointed to the Board of DRB-HICOM in 1996 as Executive Director. While in DRB-HICOM, he sat on the boards of several private limited companies under DRB-HICOM. He was Project Director for the Rawang to Ipoh Electrified Double Track Project and a member of the said Project Executive Committee of the Board of DRB-HICOM.

Dato' Bhaskaran has also served as a Committee Member of the Malaysian Automotive Association and as a Council Member of the Defence Industry Council Malaysia (chaired by the Defence Minister) where he headed the Automotive Working Group.

He left DRB-HICOM in 2006 and joined the Samling Group in 2007. In the Samling Group he set up several companies which were involved in the Auto retail business with the Honda and Mitsubishi brands. In the Samling Group, Dato' Bhaskaran played a role in the Samling takeover of the Wearnes Group which has auto retail businesses in the ASEAN countries.

While in Samling, he also set up Xylos India Ltd; a trading company marketing the groups wood products in India.

Dato’ Bhaskaran retired from the Samling Group in 2017.

He received the Darjah Dato’ Setia Negeri Sembilan in 2002.