Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty was born on April 30, 1915 at Mulki to a Tuluva Bunt family. He belongs to Kakwa guttu lineage. His mother was Kakwa guttu Seethamma Shetty and father was Bommerebottu Muddanna Shetty.
He was a banker and associated with Vijaya Bank (currently Bank of Baroda) since 1946. His tenure as a chairman of Vijaya bank resulted in the tremendous growth of the bank. Under the leadership of Sunder Ram Shetty bank developed into a scheduled bank and grew due to merging of 9 smaller banks between 1963 and 1968. Shetty served as a chairman of Vijaya bank till 1978.
Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty died in November 1, 1981 at Boston, Massachusetts, USA. In his memory a college was established in Shirwa of Udupi district. A locality in Bengaluru is named after him also a road lane between Hampanakatta and Ambedkar circle is named after him.