Vikas Divyakirti, a former civil servant who briefly worked for the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) before resigning from the post, is the founder and managing director of Drishti IAS, a coaching platform for competitive exams he established in 1996.

Drishti IAS: UPSC coaching institutes are big business in India, especially in major cities like Delhi which is considered a hub of IAS coaching centres in the country. According to a report, Drishti IAS, one of Delhi’s premier UPSC coaching institutes, earned a revenue of over Rs 400 crore in financial year 2024, while its profits touched the Rs 90 crore-mark in the same period.

The revenue operations of Drishti IAS witnessed an impressive 30.6% year-on-year increase, surging to Rs 405 crore in FY24 from Rs 310 crore in FY23, Entrackr reported, citing fiscal statements filed by VDK Eduventures Private Limited, the parent company of the Vikas Divyakirti-led coaching firm.

As per the report, Drishti IAS has witnessed a remarkable growth in the last four years, its revenue surging from Rs 40 crore in FY21 to Rs 119 crore in FY22, Rs 310 crore in FY23, and Rs 405 crore in FY24.

The institute’s offline coaching services accounted for  94.8% of the total operating revenue which increased by 37.6% to Rs 384 crore in FY24 from Rs 279 crore in FY23, the report said, adding that the remaining revenue was attributed to  the sale of study materials, including pen drives containing coaching classes, books, test papers, and other resources.

Mukherjee Nagar centre top earner

According to the report, a major chunk of Drishti IAS’s revenue came from its flagship coaching centre in Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar, contributing around 58% of the firm’s net revenue, followed by its institutes in Prayagraj, Jaipur, and Karol Bagh.

The 26-year-old coaching platform runs seven centres across northern India– two in Delhi’s Karol Bagh and Mukherjee Nagar, three in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida, Prayagraj, and Lucknow, and one each in Rajasthan’s Jaipur and Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

Vikas Divyakirti received over Rs 15 crore

Vikas Divyakirti, a former civil servant who briefly worked for the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) before resigning from the post, is the founder and managing director of Drishti IAS, a coaching platform for competitive exams he established in 1996.

As per the report, Vikas Divyakirti received a total of Rs 15.17 crore from Drishti IAS in FY-24, including Rs 3.97 crore in rent, Rs 5.2 crore in salary, and Rs 6 crore in faculty charges. His wife, Taruna Verma, also received a salary of Rs 2.4 crore during the same period, it said.