Srinivas is a serving officer of the Indian Air Force, commissioned in the Accounts branch in 1985. He is a post graduate in business administration from Panjab University, Chandigarh and a graduate in Law from Delhi University, besides being an alumnus of Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. He has served at various frontline bases of the Air Force. He also served as Joint Director Naval Plans (Financial Planning) at Naval Headquarters from 2001 to 2004 under a cross exchange programme of Service officers. He was a Research Fellow at the Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi during 2005-2009. His areas of research include Defence Budgeting, Arms Trade and Defence Offsets. His earlier book titled Budgeting for Indian Defence – Issues of Contemporary Relevance has won critical acclaim.