RattanIndia earmarks Rs 100 cr for drone biz foray through NeoSky India

RattanIndia Enterprises has forayed into the drone business in the country through its wholly-owned subsidiary NeoSky and expects the commercial rollout of products in the first quarter of 2023, a senior company official said on Thursday.

The company has earmarked an initial investment of Rs 100 crore in NeoSky, which will design, manufacture and sell consumer micro drones across India, RattanIndia Enterprises Business Chairperson Anjali Rattan Nashier told PTI.

She said RattanIndia will invest "easily in the coming future around Rs 100 crore" in the drone business initially.

"We have committed Rs 3,000 crore in RattanIndia Enterprises in total for investment in four businesses," Nashier added.

RattanIndia Enterprises is building up new age businesses. It has set-up an electric vehicle subsidiary under Revolt Intellicorp, fintech business under Bankse, online retail under Cocoblu and drone business under NeoSky.

RattanIndia Enterprises Chairman Rajiv Rattan said the company has started developing prototypes of the drones in-house.

"We as promoters are giving money to RattanIndia Enterprises for making investments," Rattan said.

He said the company is looking to capitalise on the opportunity that has opened up following the ban on import of drones in the country.

The company aims to make and sell drones that will be widely used in weddings, sports coverage, broadcasting, amateur travel vlogs, surveillance and warehouse management.

Gradually, it will explore multiple business models which will include enterprise (mining, agriculture, survey, surveillance), delivery (medical, cargo, passenger), DraaS (drone as a service), and allied software.

In August, RattanIndia Group had made a strategic investment in Silicon Valley-based on-demand drone delivery company 'Matternet'.

Matternet presently has operations in the US, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Abu Dhabi and has completed more than 30,000 delivery flights successfully.