At JNU he teaches courses at the M.A. and level. His M.A. courses include American Literature, Indian Literature in English/Translation, Readings in Literary Theory and Criticism, Indian Literature in English/Translation, M. K. Gandhi: An Author, Globalizing India: Literature, Culture, Society, Literature and Allied Arts: Cinema, Colonial Discourse and Postcolonial Studies, and courses include Research Methodology, Introduction to Contemporary Literary Theory, Literature in India, Postcolonial Literature and Theory, and so on. He also guides MPhil and Doctoral research students.
After returning to India from the United States, he taught at the University of Hyderabad (Central University) from He was Lecturer of English first, then, since , Reader (Associate Professor). In he moved to Delhi as Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities & Social Sciences at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, where he taught a variety of courses including Preparatory English, English in Practice, Introduction to Literature, American Literature, Indian Writing in English, Workshop in Creative Writing, Modern Indian Fiction in Translation, and Science and Humanism at the Undergraduate level, and Contemporary Critical Theory and Indian Writing in English at the Pre-Doctoral level. In , he was invited to apply for the post of Professor of English, Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he has been since.
Makarand has been productive as a critic, poet, novelist, short-story writer, literary columnist, and reviewer. He has edited or authored about thirty-five books and published more than academic papers both in India and abroad, in addition to poems, short stories, and more than periodical essays, reviews, and other publications.
Makarand has organized and coordinated several international conferences. He has also been an invited speaker and presented academic papers all over India and in over fifty countries abroad.
He served as Chair, Centre for Linguistics and English and of the Centre for English Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, as well as the Coordinator of the UGC Special Assistance Programme from In addition, he has been the Principal Investigator in an international project called “Indian Perspectives on Science and Spirituality.” For several years, he has also been a member and active participant in the Alliance for Responsible, Plural and United World. He was also Joint Coordinator of the China-India Intercultural Dialogue for five years under the auspices of the Alliance. He was founding editor of Evam: Forum on Indian Representations, an international biannual journal as also the Managing Trustee of the non-profit Samvad India Foundation.