DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations Limited

Technology — Computer Hardware · BSE

₹30.45−₹0.04 (−0.13%)

DalalBaazaar Score

43 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Very High

Driven by high debt relative to equity, negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, but sales are shrinking. Debt is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:00 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

The 60-second version of DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations Limited provides drone training services in India.

IndustryComputer Hardware

SectorTechnology

Employees51

Annual revenue₹15 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹15 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹3 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹47 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 51 employees supports ₹28.8 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹28.8 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are TATA CONSULTANCY SERV LT, INFOSYS LIMITED, HCL TECHNOLOGIES LTD, WIPRO LTD. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

Compared side by side in Peers ↓

What is its competitive advantage?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 0.9% are at or below what the capital likely costs. That is the financial pattern of a business competing largely on price, where advantage has to come from execution rather than position.

Peer median ROE32.0%

What has been driving growth?

Growth has come mainly from selling more, rather than from keeping more of each sale. Over 3 years revenue moved +309% while net margin moved -77% relative to itself. What this cannot tell you is which products, customers or geographies did the work — that lives in the segment disclosures of the annual report.

Revenue effect+309%

Margin effect-77%

DalalBaazaar Score

43/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ ROE of 0.6% is weak

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

44/ 100

Weak

How good the business is, ignoring the share price entirely.

Valuation

37/ 100

Expensive

What you are being asked to pay, ignoring how good the business is.

Weak on business quality and not cheap enough to compensate.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

190.3x

4Y Median

45.9x

48 monthly readings · mean 187.0x · range 11.4x–1014.4x

Sector Median

16.5x

median of 4 sector peers

⚠️Current valuation is approximately 314% above its 4y median of 45.9x. Paying more than usual needs a reason — faster growth, a better balance sheet, or a re-rating you believe in.

⚠️Against its sector it trades 1050% above the peer median of 16.5x.

vs. its own history

Expensive

45.9x median over 48 months · +314%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

16.5x median of 4 peers · +1050%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

10.7x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

Nothing stands out as clearly deteriorating on the years of data available.

Red Flags

4 items require attention · 4 high

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 125% over 3 years, from ₹0 Cr to ₹1 Cr.
🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 1.78x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.
🔴Free cash flow negative for 4 yearsFinancial
The business has not covered its capital spending from operations for several years running, which has to be funded externally.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 2248% against revenue up 309% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Earnings have proved durable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years. Consistency lowers the risk that any single bad year is structural rather than cyclical.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Leverage amplifies any setback
Debt/Equity of 1.78x. Interest is payable whether or not the business has a good year.
Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 2248% against revenue up 309%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
The price already assumes success
The stock trades 314% above its own median multiple. At this level the business has to deliver just to stand still, and a stumble is repriced twice — lower earnings on a lower multiple.
Earnings are hard to forecast
Profit has swung sharply from year to year, so any single year — good or bad — is a weak guide to the next. Cyclical earnings deserve lower multiples for that reason.
Size brings its own risk
Micro Cap businesses are thinly traded, so exits are harder in a falling market and single events move the price more than they would for a larger company.

🟡 Key Things to WatchMeasurable tripwires, set against where this company stands today

1Revenue growth stays above 45% a year✓ 59.9% CAGR
Latest reported year was -33.2%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 45%✓ 47.1%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹3 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.2x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 8%✗ 0.9%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

2 / 10 checks passed

✗ Strong return on equity (ROE ≥ 15%)
✗ Strong return on capital employed (ROCE ≥ 15%)
✗ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✗ Generates positive free cash flow
✗ Manageable leverage (Debt/Equity < 1.0)
✓ Adequate short-term liquidity (Current Ratio ≥ 1.0)
✗ Revenue growing year-over-year
✗ Not trading at an extreme valuation (P/E < 40x)
✓ Not buying right at the 52-week high
✗ Short-term technical trend isn't bearish

Price history

Quick Metrics

2 good · 3 neutral · 6 weak

Market Cap

₹73 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

190.3x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

1.25x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹0.16

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

0.6%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

0.9%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

1.78x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-33.2%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

Dividend Yield

None

No dividend yield reported — usually means no payout, but verify if one was recently initiated

Free Cash Flow

-₹8 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

ROA

-2.9%

Weak

Assets generate little profit

Operating Margin

-89.4%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

2.6%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

10.33

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.55

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

31.6 / 33.2

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

26.5

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹4 Cr	₹19 Cr	₹35 Cr	₹15 Cr	+59.9%
EBITDA	—	₹6 Cr	₹12 Cr	₹7 Cr	—
EBITDA Margin	—	30.1%	33.9%	47.1%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹0 Cr	₹3 Cr	₹6 Cr	₹0 Cr	-2.7%
EPS	₹0.17	₹1.43	₹2.54	—	—
ROE	—	5.2%	8.4%	0.6%	—
ROCE	—	7.0%	11.5%	0.9%	—
Total Debt	₹0 Cr	₹0 Cr	₹0 Cr	₹1 Cr	+31.0%
Free Cash Flow	-₹2 Cr	-₹33 Cr	-₹14 Cr	-₹3 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 59.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 30.1% to 47.1% over 3 years (+17.0 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has shrunk at 2.7% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 5.2% to 0.6% over 3 years (-4.5 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 7.0% to 0.9% over 3 years (-6.1 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 31.0% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹63 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹5 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹0 Cr

Capex

-₹3 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

35.5%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
TATA CONSULTANCY SERV LT	17.3x	45.6%
INFOSYS LIMITED	15.8x	32.0%
HCL TECHNOLOGIES LTD	20.4x	24.6%
WIPRO LTD	14.5x	15.9%

Recent News

2 mixed4 general

Droneacharya Aerial Innovation Share Price

Upstox, 16 Oct

Why is DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations share price hitting lower circuit for last two straight sessions?

Livemint, 02 DecPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move rather than a change in the business. If the figures on this page have not moved, the fall is either an opportunity or news they have yet to catch up with.

DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations has landed itself in SEBI’s bad books

Finshots, 02 Dec

Droneacharya Aerial Innovations Ltd. Share Price Live Today

CNBC TV18, 03 Jan

Droneacharya Share Plunge 20% on SEBI Ban Over IPO Misuse

HDFC Sky, 02 DecPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move rather than a change in the business. If the figures on this page have not moved, the fall is either an opportunity or news they have yet to catch up with.

Droneacharya Aerial Innovations schedules 9th AGM on September 30

scanx.trade, 06 Sept

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-33.2%) on the latest reported period — check if this is one-off or a trend.
Trading very close to its 52-week low — worth checking whether this reflects a temporary setback or a structural problem.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.
1 metric couldn't be retrieved for this stock — this is more common for smaller or thinly-covered listings.
RSI is in oversold territory — could mean either a bargain or a stock still falling for good reason. Check the 'why' before assuming reversal.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Financial Health

WeakGrowth · Profitability · Valuation · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Weak on the fundamentals

Poor scores on business quality without a price low enough to compensate. There is no obvious argument for owning this over a stronger company at a similar valuation. 4 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

2 of 5 tripwires tripped — Free cash flow remains positive; ROCE stays above 8% · see Key things to watch ↑