Dr M was born in 1949 to the visionary industrialist Mr Rai Bahadur Gujarmal Modi & Mrs. Dayawati Modi. He was born in Modinagar, an Indian city established by his Father. The first amongst his siblings to be born after independence, he was the 9th child of Mr. Modi.

In 1975, as head of Modi Rubber, Dr M sealed the first Indo-International technical collaboration in the tyre industry with Continental (Germany). Modi Rubber set up the first world-class tyre Manufacturing facility in the country.

In 1981, Dr M laid the foundation for his Business empire by setting up Graphics India which became the sole distributor of Rank Xerox copiers in India. In 1983, he formed Modi Xerox as a joint-venture with Xerox. Modi Xerox became the first Indian manufacturer of high-end laser copier. Then in 1987, he formed a joint-venture with Olivetti (Italy), Modi Olivetti. This became the first Indian joint venture to manufacture advanced PCs and floppy disks.

In 1992, he entered into a joint venture with Alcatel (France), Alcatel Modi Network Systems. This became the first Indian private sector company to manufacture Telecom equipments and export digital switching systems. It was also the first in setting up a GSM network in India.

In 1993, Modi Telstra became the first company to launch cellular services in India. They also received the first Telecom Engineering Commission Certification of Quality.

In 1994, Dr M entered into a joint-venture with International Paper, Plus Paper FoodPac, which pioneered the manufacture of eco-friendly paper containers for the foodservice industry.

1995 was a ground-breaking year for the Indian Telecom industry. The first ever mobile call was placed on the Modi Telstra network by the then Chief Minister of Kolkata, Jyoti Basu. Then Dr M formed Axiata Spice Communications, a joint-venture with Axiata Group Network. This went on to become the leading Telecom operator in Northern and Southern India.

Then in 2000, Cellebrum (now Spice Digital) was established by Dr M as the first Indian mobile value added services company for Telecom operators. In 2004, he founded Spice Hotspot (now Spice Retail) which was the first Indian mobile Retail chain. In 2009, he formed Si2i, a listed company in the SGX, by acquiring a major stake in the i2i. The company offers Operator products and services and ICT & Managed services.

Dr M is married to Veena Modi. His son, Dilip Modi, was the youngest ASSOCHAM President in 2011 and also the youngest COAI President in 2004–05. His daughters, Divya (Director, Spice Finance) and Ritika, are both married.

Dr M produced the Bollywood action comedy film, No Problem, starring Anil Kapoor. He also produced the critically acclaimed satire comedy- OMG(Oh my God) starring Akshay Kumar & Paresh Rawal. Zee TV serial Buddha – The King of Kings was one of the pet projects produced by Dr M.

To contribute towards the development of clean Energy sources, in 2015 Dr M launched Moditiciti. Situated just a few hours away from New Delhi, Modiciti is a private smart city in making which includes an electric vehicle Manufacturing unit and the presence of brands like Modiciti Solar Lamp, Modiciti Hospital, Modiciti IB School and Modiciti Multiplex.

In 2016, Forbes estimated Dr M's net worth at US $645 million.