Corporate Development     

Published: March 31, 2026
Updated: March 31, 2026

IdeaForge Technology

Making a Mark in the Drone World

NSE-BSE listed ideaForge Technology, a leading player in the Indian unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) market, has strengthened its order book during the quarter ended December 2025. The quarter began with a strong order placement of Rs 100 crore for its next-generation tactical UAV ZOLT and SWITCH V2 with EW resilience capabilities from the Indian Army, and this momentum continued throughout the quarter, resulting in an additional order booking of Rs 115 crore through multiple orders from defence and civil customers.

The company, with a mission-first approach, delivers cutting-edge drones engineered for excellent performance, autonomy and reliability, redefining possibilities in security, mapping, surveillance and disaster response applications across militaries and enterprises.

With India's largest operational deployment of indigenous UAVs, an ideaForge drone takes off every 3 minutes, enabling over 8,50,000 successful flights. Ranked 3rd globally among the world's Top Dual-Use Drone Manufacturers by Drone Industry Insights (DRONEII) Global Drone Review 2024, the company continues to set benchmarks in innovation and excellence.

Since pioneering India's first VTOL UAVs in 2009, the company has expanded with advanced R&D and manufacturing hubs in Navi Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and the US. Backed by marquee investors, including Qualcomm, Infosys, Celesta Capital, Florintree, EXIM Bank and Infina Finance, ideaForge is at the forefront of revolutionising unmanned systems.

Track Record

The company's deployed fleet completed over 150,000+ end-customer flights in FY26 YTD and 850,000+ flights cumulatively, reflecting growing customer reliance on its technology and products and the compounding value of operational experience.

Beyond defence, ideaForge also made encouraging progress in its non-defence business during the quarter, collaborating with government bodies and private enterprises to deliver UAV-led solutions across civil and industrial use cases. The company signed an MoU with C-DAC to integrate drones into India's emergency response network. In addition, the formation of its joint venture with First Breach Inc in the previous quarter boosts its market access in the US.

Commenting on the Q3 results, Ankit Mehta, co-founder and CEO, said, "FY26 has been a defining year for us so far. We've booked the highest quantum of orders in our two-decade journey so far this year, with a sizable chunk coming in Q3 alone. Our priority now is crisp execution: we expect to deliver ~40-45% of the open orders in Q4FY26 and close FY26 with improved gross margins and turn profitable."

Elaborating on the business outlook, Mr Mehta said, "Drones have become a critical element of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations, and recent global conflicts have reinforced the need for nations to build strong indigenous capabilities. For India, this shift became especially evident post-Operation Sindoor, with a clear acceleration in procurement through initiatives such as EP6 and decentralised command-level purchases."

Government Incentives

He added, "Recent reports of a fresh procurement outlay of approximately Rs 20,000 crore signal a strong, multi-year demand tailwind for the domestic drone industry. With indigenously developed platforms, subsystems and full-stack technology, we are gearing up to meet evolving requirements by expanding beyond ISR and reinforcing leadership in India's drone ecosystem. Further, the reports of PLI 2.0 and R&D incentives for drones also provide positive signs for the industry."

The company's equity capital is Rs 43.28 crore, with the promoter group's holding at 33.36%. At the current market price of Rs 372 (face value Rs 10), the market capitalisation is Rs 1,608 crore. The book value per share is Rs 131.40 whereas the last one year's high-low price is Rs 660 and Rs 304 respectively.