Aarav Unmanned Systems

Sector: Aerospace and Defence, Drones and UAVs  |  HQ: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India  |  Founded: 2014  |  Employees: 200+

Listed as: Privately held  | 

Company overview

Aarav Unmanned Systems is a Bengaluru-based drone technology company founded in 2014 by IIT Bombay alumni Vipul Singh, Suhas Banshiwala, Yeshwanth Reddy, and Nitin Gupta. The company designs, manufactures, and operates indigenous unmanned aerial vehicles primarily for industrial surveying, mapping, mining, construction monitoring, agricultural assessment, and defence applications. The flagship product line includes the AUS B0 hybrid VTOL fixed-wing drone for long-endurance industrial surveying and the AUS Stark series for tactical defence applications. Aarav Unmanned Systems is recognised under the Government of India PLI scheme for drones and drone components and is one of the early entrants among indigenous drone OEMs. The company has executed projects with the Coal India group, the Ministry of Mines, NMDC, Tata Steel, Vedanta, Adani Group, and various state governments for drone-based survey, monitoring, and inspection. In the defence segment, the company has positioned for the Indian Army's drone tender programmes under the Make in India and iDEX (Innovations for Defence Excellence) frameworks.

Financial performance and recent trajectory

Disclosed revenue (FY25): ₹70 crore (FY 2024-25 estimate).

Competitive position

The Indian drone industry has emerged as a structured sector since the 2021 Drone Rules notification that liberalised civilian drone operations. Indigenous drone OEMs competing with Aarav Unmanned Systems include ideaForge Technology (NSE listed since 2023), Asteria Aerospace (Reliance subsidiary), Garuda Aerospace, Drone Destination, Throttle Aerospace, Marut Drones, NewSpace Research and Technologies, and a long tail of startups. International competition from DJI (China) is restricted from defence and most government applications by India's drone licensing rules, but DJI retains significant penetration in the consumer and certain commercial segments through informal imports. Aarav Unmanned Systems' competitive moats are the early-mover positioning in industrial surveying, the proprietary hybrid VTOL fixed-wing platform that offers longer endurance than multi-rotor alternatives, and the deep customer relationships in the mining and construction segments. The principal vulnerability is the smaller balance sheet and capital availability relative to ideaForge and the Reliance-backed Asteria Aerospace.

Key risks

Capital availability constraints relative to ideaForge and Reliance-backed Asteria Lumpy government and enterprise order timing affecting revenue visibility Competitive intensity from indigenous and informal DJI import alternatives

Outlook

Aarav Unmanned Systems was founded in 2014 by four IIT Bombay alumni, initially focused on developing unmanned aerial systems for industrial and government surveying applications. The early stage operated under restrictive Indian drone regulations until the Drone Rules 2021 notification by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, which categorised drones by weight, simplified licensing, and opened up civilian commercial use cases. The post-2021 regulatory liberalisation has been the structural tailwind for the entire Indian drone industry. The business is organised across three operating segments. The first is industrial drone manufacturing and operations, where Aarav supplies hybrid VTOL fixed-wing drones (the AUS B0 platform) and multi-rotor drones for mining, construction, agriculture, and surveying applications. Customers include Coal India subsidiaries (CIL, BCCL, ECL, MCL), NMDC, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Vedanta, Adani Mining, and large infrastructure construction contractors. The B0 drone has approximately 90 to 120 minutes of endurance and can survey 8 to 12 square kilometres in a single flight at high resolution. The second segment is the defence and tactical drone development, with the AUS Stark series targeting Army, BSF, and CRPF tactical applications under the iDEX framework. The third segment is software and analytics, where Aarav offers cloud-based imagery analytics for orthomosaic generation, volumetric calculation, change detection, and asset inspection. Manufacturing is anchored at the Bengaluru facility with a recently expanded production footprint under the PLI scheme for drones and drone components, which provides per-unit production-linked incentive over five years. Aarav is one of approximately 23 PLI-eligible drone manufacturers shortlisted in the initial scheme. Distribution is direct-sale to enterprise and government customers, supplemented by drone-as-a-service operators that resell Aarav imagery products. The company operates a flight operations team that conducts surveys on behalf of customers under the Service Provider model, which has historically been a meaningful revenue contributor along with hardware sales. Financial trajectory has been growth-oriented but profit-light. Revenue grew from approximately ₹15 crore in FY21 to ₹35 crore in FY23 and an estimated ₹70 crore in FY25. The company has raised growth capital from investors including Infosys-co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan's family office, 3one4 Capital, and other venture investors. Profitability has been negative as the business invested in R&D, regulatory certification (Type Certification under DGCA), and team build. Recent strategic priorities include scaling defence drone development under iDEX, expanding the industrial drone hardware portfolio, and growing the drone-as-a-service revenue across mining and construction. Strategy through 2025 to 2030 is anchored on four themes. First, defence drone scaling under iDEX and the ongoing Army drone tenders, where indigenous content requirements favour PLI-eligible Indian manufacturers. Second, industrial drone services expansion across mining, construction, agriculture, and oil and gas pipeline inspection. Third, software and analytics product development to lift attach-rate revenue. Fourth, potential strategic partnership or capital infusion from larger Indian defence and industrial conglomerates seeking drone capability access. The regulatory environment is the Drone Rules 2021 administered by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) under the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The Production Linked Incentive scheme for drones and drone components, notified in 2021 with a financial outlay of ₹120 crore over three years and subsequent extensions, provides per-unit production-linked subsidy. The Defence Procurement Procedure and the iDEX framework govern defence drone procurement, with the Make-I and Make-II categories providing pathways for indigenous development funding. The Companies Act 2013 governs corporate disclosure for the private operating entity. Risks include the dependency on government and large industrial customer orders that have lumpy timing, capital availability constraints relative to ideaForge and Asteria Aerospace, competitive intensity in the drone hardware segment, certification and DGCA approval timing risk for new platforms, and the structural risk from Chinese DJI imports if regulatory enforcement is relaxed. Management quality is anchored by founder team led by Vipul Singh as CEO. The company has not pursued an IPO although the ideaForge precedent has created an expected listing pathway for the broader Indian drone industry. ESG positioning is moderate. Drones provide structural ESG benefits in mining (reduced personnel exposure to hazardous areas), construction (reduced inspection-related fatalities), and agriculture (precision input application reducing pesticide overuse). The hardware manufacturing footprint is small. The company complies with PLI scheme local content requirements and Aatmanirbhar Bharat sourcing norms.

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