1. At a Glance – Blink and You’ll Miss the Altitude Drop
IdeaForge Technology Ltd, once marketed as India’s answer to global defence drone majors, is currently flying at ₹413 with a market cap of roughly ₹1,788 Cr. The stock is down ~21% YoY, ROCE is a negative -9.7%, ROE is -10.3%, and FY25 ended with a chunky ₹-103 Cr loss. Price-to-Book sits at 3.1x, while Price-to-Sales is a spicy 17x—yes, seventeen times sales for a company whose revenue fell 56% YoY.
But before you throw this drone into the Arabian Sea, pause. This is a company that holds ~50% market share in Indian UAVs, ranked 3rd globally in dual-use drones, with ₹440 Cr orders booked YTD in FY26, including multiple Ministry of Defence (MoD) orders. The problem? Revenue recognition is slower than Indian defence procurement, margins are uglier than a drone crash landing, and working capital has gone full Manmohan Singh era bureaucracy.
So… is this a broken story or a delayed one? Let’s pop the hood.
2. Introduction – From Poster Boy to Problem Child
When ideaForge listed, it wasn’t just an IPO—it was a narrative IPO.
“India’s leading drone company.”
“Strategic defence supplier.”
“Make-in-India tech champion.”
And to be fair, all of that was true. The company rode the defence indigenisation wave, border surveillance urgency, and UAV modernisation plans like a pro surfer. FY22-FY24 looked decent: revenue peaked at ₹314 Cr in FY24, margins were healthy, and ROCE touched double digits.
Then FY25 happened.
Revenue collapsed to ₹161 Cr, TTM sales slid to ₹105 Cr, PAT went from +₹45 Cr (FY24) to -₹62 Cr (FY25), and operating margins nosedived to -32%. If you’re wondering “Did the company forget how to make drones?”—no. What
happened was far more Indian.
General elections → delayed procurement → L1 orders not converting → factories running but billing not happening → fixed costs partying alone → margins crying.
Classic defence PSU trauma, but applied to a private company.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do? (And Why Is Cash Missing?)
ideaForge builds Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)—not hobby drones, but hardcore defence-grade and industrial drones.
Segment Split (FY25):
- Defence – 59% (down from 80% in FY22)
- Civil – 41% (up from 20% in FY22)
Defence drones like NETRA, SWITCH, Q4i, Q6 are used by the Indian Army, paramilitary forces, and other government agencies. These are long-range, high-altitude, encrypted, surveillance beasts.
Civil drones like NINJA and RYNO are used in mapping, inspection, disaster management, and enterprise use-cases.
Now here’s the catch:
Defence business ≠ FMCG.
Orders are lumpy, revenues are back-ended, and payments come after:
- Trials
- Acceptance tests
- Paperwork
- Paperwork of the paperwork
So when orders slow, revenue doesn’t just dip—it vanishes temporarily. Meanwhile, salaries, R&D, factories, and engineers still demand their monthly salary. That’s how you get -75% OPM without the company actually shutting shop.
4. Financials Overview – Numbers That Need Therapy
Quarterly Comparison Table
