Born in 1935 in Lahore, Nand Katyal and his family came to Delhi from Lahore after Partition. He studied Fine Art at the Polytechnic in Delhi and worked as an art teacher. In the early 1960s, Katyal joined the American Center and served as the art director of Span magazine for many years before turning to art as a freelance practitioner.

He served as the secretary of Delhi Silpi Chakra for the period 1963–1967 and was the director of 10th Triennale India in 2001. He was part of the five-member jury for National Awards of Lalit Kala Akademi in 2004. Katyal was awarded with the National Award in 1995, and was given a Felicitation, 10th Rashtriya Kala Mela, in 1997.

He has had several solo and group shows, including international workshops and camps and exhibited in the Triennale. His works can be seen in the collections of the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi.

Landscapes are the source of his inspiration. Intense experience of a certain time and place in memory makes him to take a canvas to start construction with colour using brushes hands pallet, Knives, Clothes etc and Feelings of pain when not successful and joy of seeming it growing.