 His father, Dr. R. H. Kulkarni, was a surgeon based in Hubballi and his mother, Vimala Kulkarni, was a devoted home-maker.He is one of four children and has three sisters, namely Sunanda Kulkarni, Sudha Murthy (wife of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy) and Jaishree Deshpande (wife of Gururaj Deshpande).Kulkarni and his sisters grew up in Hubballi, Karnataka, and received their schooling at local schools there.