Tushar Tayal.
What started with helping people travel across borders is evolving into a much bigger entrepreneurial vision for Tushar Tayal.
At the age of 25, the founder and CEO of Assam-based Travelidea has been selected as part of the Indian delegation to the G20 Young Entrepreneurs' Alliance Summit 2026, scheduled to take place in Vienna, Austria.
The international platform will bring together young entrepreneurs from G20 economies to exchange ideas, build business networks and explore opportunities for collaboration. For Tushar, however, the opportunity is about more than attending an international summit. It represents the direction in which he wants to take his business, his leadership journey and his thinking about the future of international mobility.
Travelidea works across international travel, visa assistance and corporate travel. But Tushar believes the travel industry is moving towards something much broader: global mobility. "The larger question is how people navigate the world-how they access countries, opportunities, businesses and relationships," he says. That idea has become increasingly central to his entrepreneurial outlook.
Travel has traditionally been viewed through a fairly straightforward lens: flights, hotels, visas and itineraries. But the international movement today is closely connected to many other aspects of life and business.
Students travel overseas for education. Entrepreneurs travel to explore new markets. Companies send teams across borders to build partnerships. Professionals move between countries for work. Tourists travel to discover new destinations. International conferences bring together people who may eventually create businesses or collaborations. For Tushar, these different forms of movement are connected.
His vision for Travelidea is therefore not limited to helping someone complete a visa application or arrange an international trip. He sees an opportunity to participate in the larger ecosystem of global mobility, where travel becomes a gateway to education, entrepreneurship, business, tourism and international collaboration.
Tushar Tayal's story is particularly significant because his entrepreneurial journey began in Assam rather than in one of India's traditional metropolitan business centres.
The growth of India's startup and entrepreneurship ecosystem has increasingly demonstrated that ambitious businesses can emerge from smaller cities and regional markets. Entrepreneurs from different parts of the country are building companies, developing professional networks and participating in national and international forums.
Tushar's journey reflects this changing landscape. Based in Assam, he has built Travelidea while maintaining an international outlook. His experience demonstrates how entrepreneurs from Northeast India can combine local understanding with global ambition.
Tushar's international outlook was also shaped by his education and experiences outside India. Born and raised in Assam, he studied at the SP Jain School of Global Management, gaining exposure to international academic and business environments. His journey took him through Singapore, Dubai and Sydney, giving him the opportunity to experience different cultures, markets and ways of doing business.
Living across different countries can change the way an entrepreneur thinks about borders. What may appear to be a geographical boundary can, from a business perspective, become an opportunity for connection.
Different countries have different consumer behaviours, business cultures, regulatory environments and market structures. Experiencing these differences first-hand can help entrepreneurs understand why international collaboration requires more than simply entering another market. For Tushar, these international experiences eventually became part of the foundation for his broader vision of global mobility.
Despite his international exposure, Tushar chose to build his entrepreneurial journey in India. That decision is an important part of his story. International education and experience did not necessarily lead him to build his future outside the country. Instead, they helped him see opportunities within India from a different perspective.
Assam became not just the place where he started, but a base from which he could think about international markets. This approach reflects a broader shift among young Indian entrepreneurs. Global exposure is increasingly being used not simply as a pathway to leave India, but as a way to bring new ideas, knowledge and networks back into the domestic ecosystem.
One of Tushar's strongest beliefs is that the geographical position of Northeast India should be viewed differently.
"We should stop thinking only about how far the Northeast is from Delhi and start thinking about how close it is to the rest of Asia," he says. That perspective changes the conversation around the region.
The Northeast is often discussed in terms of its distance from India's major commercial centres. But geographically, the region occupies a unique position connecting India with Southeast Asia and neighbouring countries. For entrepreneurs, that location can potentially create opportunities around trade, tourism, logistics, education, cross-border business and cultural exchange.
Tushar believes this geographical reality can become part of the region's entrepreneurial advantage. Rather than seeing Assam only as a regional market, he sees the state as a potential gateway to broader Asian connections. That mindset is particularly relevant to his work in travel and global mobility.
Tushar's vision for Travelidea is not only about helping Indians travel abroad. He also wants to make it easier for international travellers, businesses and institutions to discover India. That creates a two-way model of global mobility.
On one side, Indians can explore opportunities outside the country-whether through education, tourism, entrepreneurship, employment or business. On the other hand, international visitors and organisations can explore India's markets, culture, business ecosystem and investment possibilities.
For Tushar, this two-way movement is where the larger opportunity lies. India is becoming increasingly connected to the global economy, and international mobility can play a role in strengthening those connections. Travel, in this context, becomes part of a much bigger ecosystem involving people, ideas, businesses and markets.
Tushar's leadership journey also extends beyond his role as founder and CEO of Travelidea. Through his work with JCI Tezpur Rise East and JCI India, he has taken on responsibilities at the local and national levels while gaining exposure to international forums.
These experiences have helped him develop as a young leader while also expanding his understanding of collaboration and community-driven leadership. For many entrepreneurs, leadership begins with managing a business.
But over time, it can become about building networks, creating opportunities for others and contributing to the ecosystem around them. Tushar's involvement with JCI has added another dimension to his entrepreneurial journey.
It has exposed him to other young leaders, entrepreneurs and professionals and strengthened his belief that meaningful progress often happens through collaboration rather than isolation.
The G20 Young Entrepreneurs' Alliance Summit 2026 in Vienna represents an important milestone in this journey. It brings together young entrepreneurs from different G20 economies, creating opportunities for dialogue around entrepreneurship, innovation, business growth and international collaboration.
For Tushar, the significance of the platform lies in its ability to connect entrepreneurs who may be operating in very different markets but facing similar questions.
These are the kinds of conversations that can potentially extend beyond the summit itself.
There is also a symbolic dimension to Tushar's participation. An entrepreneur from Assam travelling to Vienna to participate in a global entrepreneurial platform challenges the traditional perception of where global business stories originate.
International entrepreneurship is no longer limited to founders from Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru or other major commercial centres. Digital connectivity, international education, cross-border networks and changing business ecosystems are creating opportunities for entrepreneurs from smaller cities and regions.
Tushar's journey from Assam to the G20 YEA Summit is part of that broader shift. It shows how a business can be rooted in a regional market while maintaining an international ambition.
The concept of global mobility may become increasingly important as international education, remote work, entrepreneurship, tourism and cross-border business continue to evolve.
People are no longer travelling only because they want to move from one destination to another. They are travelling because they want to do something at the destination. If travel is ultimately about accessing opportunities, then businesses operating in the travel ecosystem can play a much larger role in helping people navigate that journey. That is the space in which he sees Travelidea developing.
At 25, Tushar Tayal is at an early stage of his entrepreneurial career, but his experiences already span multiple environments-from Assam to international cities such as Singapore, Dubai and Sydney, and now potentially to a global entrepreneurship platform in Vienna.
His journey combines several elements: entrepreneurship, international exposure, leadership, travel and a strong connection to his home region. The G20 YEA opportunity brings these different parts of his journey together.
His business experience gives him an understanding of international travel and mobility. His education has exposed him to global business environments. His JCI involvement has strengthened his leadership and networking experience. And his roots in Assam give him a perspective on the opportunities that exist outside India's traditional business hubs.
For Tushar, the most important part of the G20 YEA experience may begin after the summit ends. International platforms can create valuable connections, but their long-term impact depends on what entrepreneurs do with those connections.
The conversations in Vienna could potentially lead to new collaborations, partnerships, ideas and business relationships. For Travelidea, international exposure could also open new perspectives on how global mobility services can evolve.
For Assam, Tushar's participation can contribute to a wider conversation about the potential of entrepreneurs from Northeast India. And for Tushar personally, the summit could become another step towards developing his larger vision of connecting India with the world.
Tushar Tayal's journey is ultimately a story about how an ordinary business problem can lead to a much larger entrepreneurial question. And that has developed into a broader vision around global mobility-connecting people with countries, businesses, opportunities and relationships.
His journey from Assam to Vienna is therefore more than a story about international travel. It is a story about perspective, about seeing geographical distance differently, about believing that businesses from smaller cities can think globally, about using international exposure to create opportunities at home.
And about understanding entrepreneurship as a way of building bridges between people and markets. For Tushar, the journey does not end when he reaches Vienna. In many ways, that may be where the next chapter begins.
From Assam to Vienna, from visa services to global mobility, Tushar Tayal's journey reflects a new generation of Indian entrepreneurship-locally rooted, internationally experienced and globally ambitious.
