UP Man Quit His Banking Job At 23 To Turn His Love For Mountains Into A Rs 10 Crore Business

Vijay Pratap Singh made a choice that many would find difficult at 23. He left a secure banking job and chose the mountains. What started as a love for trekking and nature turned into a business that has reportedly earned around Rs 10 crore over the years.

Singh is the founder of AdvenThrill, an adventure travel company that offers trekking trips and outdoor learning programmes. His journey began in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, studied in a Hindi medium school before moving to Dehradun in 2005 for further studies.

Living close to the mountains changed his life. Whenever he got the chance, he would leave for the forests and hills. That love for the outdoors slowly became the idea behind his company.

Speaking with The Better India, while studying Information Technology (IT) at Dev Bhoomi Uttarakhand University, he became “interested in wildlife photography at the time, so I used to explore nearby forests.” 

Despite doing well in his banking job, Singh never lost his connection with the mountains and “continued hiking and trekking with my friends”

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Before leaving his job, he planned the basic structure of AdvenThrill and how he'd run it. With help from his friends who worked in IT, he built a website and created social media pages for the company. The first focus was on helping people book trekking trips.

To manage the growing work, Vijay also hired a few management interns. Even after getting their help, he continued to handle most of the work himself.

Singh started his journey as a trek leader in December 2016 when he took a group of 12 MBBS students from Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi to Chopta Tungnath. It was his first time leading a group and the trek took place in snowy conditions. The experience helped him learn how to plan trips, manage people and handle problems during a trek.

As Singh wanted to grow the company, he also understood that passion alone was not enough. He needed proper training and a strong understanding of mountaineering and safety. He later completed a mountaineering course at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering to improve his skills.

Over the years, he also built a team of trained trek leaders. This included experienced people with military backgrounds who guide groups and handle difficult situations during mountain trips.

“We have put together a close-knit team of 10 members who have undergone basic and advanced mountaineering courses, search and rescue training, and some are certified first-aid responders. Anyone can apply, but they must submit medical test reports from a certified doctor. That's why we only take registrations a month in advance — to ensure there's ample time to assess their fitness,” he adds.

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In the past eight years, Singh's company has taken trekkers to several destinations in India, including Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Nepal. The company has earned around Rs 10 crore in total revenue.

Vijay prefers to keep the number of treks limited so that every group gets proper attention and a good experience. Instead of organising a large number of trips, the company conducts only around 10 to 20 treks each year.

His next goal is to find and develop new trekking routes that are still unknown. Finding these routes is not easy. It requires GPS mapping, careful planning and a lot of work on the ground. Singh hopes that this effort will help India become better known for its many trekking opportunities.