In 1969 he received a secondary technical education in the specialty "equipment for canning industry enterprises" with the qualification of a "technician-technologist", graduated from the Michurinsk Technological College. In 1980, he received the specialty "industry planning" in absentia, qualified as an economist, graduated from the All-Russian Correspondence Institute of Finance and Economics
He began his career at the age of 16 as a loader at a pasta factory, at the same time he entered a technical school with a degree in canning production mechanic. After serving in the army, he worked as a mechanic at a winery in Lebedyan, after graduating from a technical school, he worked as a foreman at a tool factory. For 11 years of work at the plant, he went from a foreman to a shop manager.
In August 1981, he was appointed director of the Lebedyansky cannery. Since 1992 - General Director of OAO Lebedyansky
In 2003, he was elected to the State Duma of the IV convocation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in the Yelets single-mandate constituency. In 2007, he was elected to the State Duma of the 5th convocation on the list of the Lipetsk regional group of United Russia . On December 4, 2011, he was elected to the State Duma of the VI convocation on the list of the Lipetsk regional group of United Russia. On September 18, 2016, he was elected to the State Duma of the 7th convocation . Member of the faction "United Russia"
From 2003 to 2019, during the exercise of the powers of a deputy of the State Duma of the IV, V, VI and VII convocations, he co-authored 70 legislative initiatives and amendments to draft federal laws.
In 2008, he sold 75.53% of the juice business of OJSC Lebedyansky to PepsiCo .
N. I. Bortsov is the former owner and CEO of Lebedyansky OJSC, the largest juice producer in Russia. According to the Finance magazine, the state of the entrepreneur in 2010 was estimated at 18.1 billion rubles (127th place in Russia).
In 2010, Bortsov received an income of 1.324 billion rubles. He owned in banks: 2.6 billion rubles in Sberbank and 1.95 billion rubles. - in Rosselkhozbank . After the sale of the business at OAO Lebedyansky, he went into the agricultural business.
According to official figures, Bortsov received an income of 988,498,353 rubles in 2018. He owns six land plots, three houses, an apartment, a garage, eight parking spaces, a Mercedes S500 4Matic car, a Belarus-82.1 tractor, and a trailer.
In the ranking of the income of officials of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine for 2012, Nikolai Bortsov took 5th place. Bortsov ranks third in the income ranking of State Duma deputies.
In 2016, he took 144th place in the Forbes magazine's "Richest Businessmen of Russia" rating, his fortune was estimated at $550 million.
N.I. Bortsov married, son Yuri Nikolaevich Bortsov, daughter Natalya, wife Nina Alekseevna Bortsova.
