SAT Stays SEBI Penalty Recovery Against DroneAcharya, Seeks 50% Deposit

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has temporarily stayed the recovery of penalties imposed by SEBI on DroneAcharya and its promoters.

In a stock exchange filing today, the BSE SME–listed drone company said SAT has admitted its appeal against SEBI’s November 28 order and halted the recovery of the penalty with immediate effect. However, the tribunal has directed DroneAcharya to deposit 50% of the penalty amount within four weeks, while the remaining sum will not be recovered during the pendency of the case.

The order was passed yesterday. SAT has granted SEBI four weeks to file its reply, after which DroneAcharya will have two weeks to submit its response. The next hearing is scheduled for February 12, 2026.

SEBI’s Crackdown On DroneAcharya

The SAT order follows SEBI’s action against DroneAcharya last month, when the regulator imposed penalties totalling INR 75 Lakh on the company, its founders—Prateek Srivastava and Nikita Srivastava—and several advisors. SEBI also barred the company, its promoters and associated intermediaries from accessing the securities market for up to two years.

As part of the order, SEBI fined DroneAcharya INR 10 Lakh, imposed penalties of INR 20 Lakh each on the two founders, levied INR 10 Lakh each on Instafin Financial Advisors and advisor Sandeep Ghate, and fined Micro Infratech INR 5 Lakh. The regulator also froze the assets of the company and its promoters during the ongoing investigation.

SEBI’s probe alleged inflated revenues, misleading disclosures, misuse of IPO proceeds and attempts to mislead investors before and after the company’s December 2022 listing. The regulator claimed that nearly 35% of DroneAcharya’s FY24 revenue—around INR 12.35 Cr—was derived from just two entities, Triconix and IRed, where no actual delivery of goods or services could be established.

SEBI further alleged that several customer addresses were residential premises or unrelated small shops. Excluding these transactions, the regulator said DroneAcharya would have reported a loss of INR 3.91 Cr instead of a profit of INR 8.44 Cr.

The markets regulator also flagged the utilisation of IPO proceeds. DroneAcharya had raised INR 33.96 Cr in its IPO and stated that INR 27.99 Cr would be used to procure drones and accessories. SEBI’s investigation found that only INR 70 Lakh was spent for this purpose, while over INR 27 Cr was parked in fixed deposits or routed through multiple accounts without adequate disclosure.

In addition, SEBI raised concerns over related-party transactions with Awyam Synergies Private Limited—a firm that shared directors with DroneAcharya—as well as issues linked to the company’s pre-IPO fundraising.

Following SEBI’s order, DroneAcharya said its board had decided to challenge the regulator’s findings, arguing that the conclusions did not accurately reflect the facts of the case. SAT’s interim order now provides the company temporary relief from full penalty recovery while the appeal is heard.