Ravi Pillai trained at the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy and joined 63 Cavalry on commissioning in June 1971.
He led a troop of tanks in battle in Bangladesh. He attended the Command and General Staff College in Canada in 1981. He was a Staff Officer in the Military Operations Directorate at the Sri Lanka desk and was mil liaison officer in the High Commission in Colombo during Operations in the '80s.
He was also Mil Assistant to the Minister for Defence (MOS defence - indep charge) in the late '80s. He commanded 63 Cavalry in the early '90s and was posted as an Instructor in the Senior Command Wing at the Army War College from where he opted to prematurely retire in 1994. In the corporate world he was Country Manager for 'DHL Worldwide' in the late '90s and was exec director for 'City and Guilds UK' from 2000 to 2011. He continued his association with the Government and the private sector in the area of Skills and Education between 2011 to 2020 when he formally retired.'