Can you tell me about various escorted tour groups for India---some I have heard of are General Tours,Globus, Tauck, Sita, Trafalgar,Vantage---all suggestions are welcome. What months would you say are best to visit there? Thank you for help.

Well if u want more adventure travel, with small groups...check...Imaginative Traveller, Intrepid, GAP Adventures or Explore. They are all good. I do believe best months to travel to India are October til March or April...June til September is monsoon...And it also depends where u are planning to go as it may slightly vary...

I have gone in September,(Goa and Varanasi) October (Rajasthan), November (Kerala)...January (Goa and Bombay)...and March (Goa) and had good weather each time except in September in Goa, there was lots of rain, although it was quite pleasant most of the time...

Hope this helps!!

October in Rajasthan was lovely weather...

I've done a few trips with General Tours - Peru, Turkey, and Russia. The main things I like are that you get good value, their groups are small (14 in Turkey was the biggest group), and their "folks on the ground" are great - friendly, know their stuff, and never a language problem. I've been thinking about going to India with General, and agree with TracyB - definitely avoid the monsoon season from everything I've heard. I'm considering one of General's November departures to the Pushkar Camel Fair, but I am wondering if it's worth the higher price... I would welcome any opinions on that issue.

I've been owrking with Faith Pandian, of Indian Panorama. It's an India based company with local offices all over the country.
Faith has been fantastic, and is highly recommended on Indiamike Travel Forum (where I first learned of her services). Compared to another local South INdian travel agent I tried, her company's prices are far less, she's more organized, and very intuitive about her clients' travel experiences.
The description of some of their tours can be found here:
http://www.indianpanorama.in/tours.html

Try Myths and Mountains.

My husband and I went with Vantage in October, 2007- fabulous trip, great value.

The best time to go is November-March. December-Jan during the holidays is the most expensive. I'd suggest get an agent to make a customised tour for u - India is one of the only places in the world u can afford to do this and choose what you'd like to see rather than tag along with a group.