Amish Tripathi grew up near Rourkela, Odisha. He is an alumnus of St. Xavier's College, Mumbai and Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. Although originally he wanted to be a historian, he chose a career in finance because he couldn't afford the former. He worked for 14 years in the financial services industry, in companies such as Standard Chartered, DBS Bank and IDBI Federal Life Insurance, before starting his writing career.

The Immortals of Meluha, Tripathi's first mashup novel and the first in the Shiva Trilogy, was published in February 2010.The second book in the series, The Secret of the Nagas, was released on 12 August 2011, and the third installment, titled The Oath of the Vayuputras, was released on 27 February 2013. The trilogy is a fantasy re-imagining of the Indian deity Shiva's life and adventures.

The movie rights of The Immortals of Meluha were purchased by Dharma Productions in early 2012. Also The Immortals of Meluha and The Secret of the Nagas have been released in UK through Jo Fletcher Books (an imprint of Quercus Books) in January 2013 and November 2013 respectively.

Amish Tripathi has recently been listed as one of India's "New Icons" by the DNA newspaper in its eighth anniversary special. Amish has also been awarded Society Young Achievers Award for Literature[33]He also won the Communicator of the Year Award 2014, instituted by the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI).[34] PRCI, the premier body of PR, Media and HR professionals and academicians, has announced the award to Amish at the 8th Global Communication Conclave in Mumbai. Amish Tripathi was named Man of the Year 2013 by Radio One.

His latest book, Scion of Ikshvaku was released on 22 June 2015. It is the first book in the Ram Chandra Series.It is a fantasy re-imagining of the Indian epic Ramayana. It follows the story of Ram and is a prequel to the shiva trilogy.