Gujarat start-up to display UAVs at Make in India event

Sets up 40-drones per month capacity unit in Ahmedabad to fulfill orders

Ahmedabad-based Z axis Unmanned Machines Pvt. Ltd., only start-up from Gujarat selected for Make in India Week in Mumbai from February 13 onwards, will showcase Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for defence and aerospace.

Set up with an investment of over $1 million by Jugal Pandya, Pavan Bakeri and Pankaj Paneria, 'Z axis' looks to tap government agencies as well as armed and paramilitary forces for use of its UAVs or drones for varied purposes. At a capacity of 40 drones per month, a facility has been set up in Ahmedabad even as Z axis aims at garnering orders during the Make in India week.

"Our surveillance UAVs are specially designed keeping in mind the stringent demands of our armed forces, paramilitary and police forces, alongwith wide ranging applications for various government departments. India so far has been importing UAVs from Israel, France and United States. We believe that pioneering the manufacturing of surveillance UAVs will help our country by cutting down costs to the tune 40% while ensuring the availability of hi-performance, international technology," said Pandya.

To be manufactured at 60% localisation, Z axis is in talks with Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services, state tourism department, Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Border Security Force (BFS) among others for supply of the indigenously built drones.

Made out of carbon-fiber material that make the drones light weight and long endurance, the UAVs carry an average 40 minute flight time. The company has for now launched four different types of UAVs for varied purposes.

"The products can be equipped with different pay-loads depending upon customized needs. As the core focus of company is to deal with different government bodies, especially defence, the company is also developing in-house software used in different UAVs in order to cut down the dependence on third party and to maintain secrecy of collected data intact," said Bakeri.

According to Harmitsingh Sikh, Chief Marketing Officer, Z axis Unmanned Machines, the market size of small UAVs in India, which weigh not more than 50kgs, is estimated to be around Rs 200 crore by 2019, up from Rs 110 crore in 2015.

"This is taking into consideration 97% of defence application as of now. The civil application will vastly increase the market once the policy becomes clear and the ban is removed by DGCA," Sikh added. Apart from being the only start-up, Z axis is also one of the only two companies from Gujarat to be selected to participate in the Make in India Week.