DroneAcharya Shares Rally 5% After Startup Bags New Contracts From Armed Forces

Shares of drone startup DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations jumped over 5% on the BSE SME platform on Monday (March 18) after it bagged new contracts from the defence forces.

The startup’s shares rallied as much as 8.6% during the intraday trading session but gave up some of the gains to close the session at INR 145.95.

DroneAcharya informed the exchanges on Saturday (March 16) that it bagged an order from the Ministry of Defence to supply IT hardware to set up a drone lab in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). Besides, it also won contracts to supply drone hardware to the Northern Command and its precision mapping system to Earthtree Enviro. 

Founded in 2017 by Prateek Srivastava, DroneAcharya offers drone-based enterprise solutions across sectors such as oil and gas, mining, infrastructure and agriculture. It also provides training for drone piloting and drone data processing.

Since the beginning of 2024, the startup has bagged a slew of new contracts. Last week, it said it also got an order from the Adani Group to offer drone pilot training. 

Earlier this month, DroneAcharya also received accreditation from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to operate as a medium category drone pilot training organisation. 

In February, the Pune-based drone maker signed an agreement with Vimaan Aerospace to provide drones and drone-related training and services.

The drone startup clocked a profit after tax (PAT) of INR 3.97 Cr in the first half of FY24 against a profit of INR 13.09 Lakh in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. Operating revenue zoomed 998% to INR 20.89 Cr in H1 FY24 from INR 1.9 Cr in the year-ago period.

The uptick in the share price followed a subdued last week, when the drone startup’s shares crashed over 10% amid the fall in the broader market.

The market capitalisation of DroneAcharya stood at INR 350.11 Cr at the end of today’s trading session.