A widely-respected academic, Mr. Kapoor taught for decades at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) as a professor at the Centre for Linguistic and English Studies till 2005. He was concurrently a professor at the Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies at JNU, which is now the School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies.
He is known for the epistemological cut in English Studies as the pioneer in India in introducing key texts of Indian thought in English Studies as far back as the 1970s, thus reversing the theory-text study hierarchy in English Studies that leaned towards western texts and ideas.