Pargat Singh Powar was born on 5 March 1965 in Mithapur, Jalandhar district, Punjab, India.
He was educated at Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar.
While playing for the combined universities in 1983, he was picked up for the national team to play Test series in Hong Kong. He earned his first international cap on 10 December 1983 against Hong Kong in Hong Kong aged 18.
He played in the Junior World Cup in Vancouver, Canada in 1985.
He was a member of the Indian team that won Silver Medal at the 1985 Asia Cup in Dhaka.
He represented India at the London 1986 World Cup.
He represented India at the Seoul 1988 World Cup.
He was awarded the Indian National Award, 'Arjuna Puraskar' in 1989.
He was India's captain at the Lahore 1990 World Cup.
He was captain of the Asia team that won the inaugural Inter-Continent Tournament played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in December 1990.
He was India's captain at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games
He was India's captain at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games. He retired from playing International hockey after these Games and went to Malaysia to play for Johar Babru Club.
He was appointed a member of FIH Athletes Panel in 1997.
He was also appointed on the FIH Rules Advisory Panel.
He was appointed India's National Coach in 1998 at the age of 33.
He was awarded the Indian National Award, ‘Padma Shri' in 1998.
He was appointed Director of Sport, Punjab, in 2005, the youngest Director at the age of 39.
He is currently a Member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly and lives in Jalandhar, Punjab.