Meet the Founder: Pawan Kumar

(Founder & Travel Director)

Pawan started in India’s travel trade in 2002, and not behind a desk. For more than ten years he worked as a tourist driver and guide himself, driving visitors from every continent across India: the mountain roads of Ladakh, the desert highways of Rajasthan, the temple towns of the south. Those years on the road taught him something most agencies never learn. The person driving you matters far more than the brochure.

In 2013 he turned that experience into a company of his own, Driver India Private Tours, registered with the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. The idea was straightforward. Give international travellers a private car, a driver who knows both the route and the language, and an itinerary shaped around them rather than a fixed group schedule.

An MA (Honours) in History from the University of Delhi sits behind the way his trips are planned, so the context you hear at the Taj Mahal or Amber Fort isn’t read off a card. Every journey runs on the principle Pawan grew up with, Atithi Devo Bhava (“the guest is god”). In practice that means planning around your pace, being honest about what is actually worth your time, and following the small details of each traveller’s trip.

Today the company runs its own transport fleet with a team of 35 professional drivers, supported by a small office team who plan each trip one to one.

“I drove these routes myself for over ten years before I ever ran a company. That’s still how we work. The driver is the trip.”
Pawan Kumar, Founder & Travel Director

The Team:

• Mukul Sharma, Operations Executive. With DIPT since 2016. He holds a BBA and an MBA in Travel & Tourism from IITTM. Mukul coordinates drivers, hotels and day-to-day logistics so every trip runs to plan. He is the person making sure the car is where it should be and each day flows without friction, and a genuine travel enthusiast who has explored much of India himself.
   
• Diya Mehta, Sales Head. With the team since 2019, with an MA in English. Diya is the first point of contact for many of our travellers. She listens to a rough idea and turns it into a clear, costed, day-by-day plan, patient with questions and honest about what will and won’t work for your dates and budget.
   
• Udaydeep Singh, Travel Consultant. With DIPT since 2016. A destination specialist who knows which fort, which season and which route is genuinely worth your time. He is the person to ask when you want to go deeper than the standard circuit.
   
• Ashish Saroj Kumar, Travel Consultant. With the team since 2022. He plans one to one with each traveller, shaping the route and pace around exactly what you want from your India trip.
   
• Preeti, Travel Consultant. With the team since 2022. She works one to one with travellers from first enquiry to final itinerary, keeping the plan personal from start to finish.