Delhivery To Set Up Subsidiary To Manufacture Drones

Logistics unicorn Delhivery is setting up a wholly-owned subsidiary, Delhivery Robotics India, to manufacture drones and provide freight air transportation services.

In an exchange filing on Friday (May 17), the company said its board has approved the proposal to set up the subsidiary with an authorised share capital of INR 5 Cr.

The proposed subsidiary will primarily offer Drone as a Service (DaaS) for shipment movement and remote sensing. 

Besides, it will also be engaged in manufacturing, production and selling unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) globally. For this, it will outsource the manufacturing and procurement of composite airframe components, quality testing, flight trials as well, the filing added.

Delhivery Robotics India will also provide UAV pilot training, certifying pilots for internal use and obtaining a licence from the DGCA. 

This comes over a year after the company announced its plans to foray into the drone delivery space. During Delhivery’s earning call for Q3 FY23, its cofounder and CEO Sahil Barua said that the transition into aerial deliveries will be helmed by its portfolio company Transition Robotics, which had developed a fixed-wing drone that could carry about 4 kg payload for a distance of 40 km.

“We have been testing our drone capabilities and transferring technology to India since the drones need to be manufactured in the country in order to be used here. We also have capabilities to deliver and have done trials in the country with the approval of both national and local regulators,” he said back then.

With the formation of a separate subsidiary for drone manufacturing, Delhivery is looking to shore up its revenue by entering the burgeoning drone market in the country. As per an Inc42 report, the Indian drone market is expected to reach $13 Bn in size by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 21% between 2022 and 2030.

This has resulted in the emergence of a number of drone startups in the country over the last few years. These startups have also been garnering a lot of interest from the investors. 

Last week, Chennai-based drone startup Dhaksha Unmanned Systems secured an investment of $18 Mn from listed agri-solutions provider Coromandel International. Further, agritech startup BharatRohan also bagged $2.3 Mn to develop proprietary edge computing drones specifically for precision farming, crop monitoring and pesticide applications earlier in the month.

Meanwhile, Delhivery also said that its board, in its meeting today, approved the liquidation of its UK-based wholly-owned subsidiary Delhivery Corp Ltd. “Delhivery Corp is not a material subsidiary of the company, and the dissolution of Delhivery Corp will not affect the turnover/revenue of the company,” Delhivery said in a separate filing.

The net worth of Delhivery Corp stood at INR 1.03 Cr as of March 31, 2024. 

Delhivery also reported its Q4 results today. The company slipped into the losses, posting a consolidated loss of INR 69 Cr in the March quarter. It posted a profit after tax of INR 11.7 Cr in the preceding quarter – Q3.

Shares of the company ended today’s trading session 0.8% higher at INR 453.85 on the BSE.