Singh was born on 3 February 1931 in Mairi Village in the Amb subdivision of Una district in present day Himachal Pradesh (then Punjab, British Raj). Charanjit Singh was an alumnus of Col. Brown Cambridge School, Dehradun and was exposed to hockey during his time there. Singh graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the Government Agricultural College, Lyallpur (in modern-day Pakistan). During this time, he represented Panjab University.
