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ideaForge Technology Ltd (IDEAFORGE) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

ideaForge Technology Ltd (NSE: IDEAFORGE) Q3 2026 Earnings Call dated Jan. 23, 2026

Corporate Participants:

Vidhi VasaInvestor Relations

Ankit MehtaCEO & Whole-Time Director

Vipul JoshiCFO & Whole-Time Director

Analysts:

Jai ChauhanAnalyst

Hardik RawatAnalyst

Dipen VakilAnalyst

TusharAnalyst

Jatin JadhavAnalyst

Nikhil GuptaAnalyst

Mithun AswathAnalyst

Ishani JainAnalyst

Shubham ThoratAnalyst

Presentation:

operator

Ladies and gentlemen, Good day and welcome to Idea Forge Technology Limited Q3FY26 earnings conference call. As a reminder, all the participants line will be in the listen only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing Star then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Ms. Vidhi Vasa from MUFG in time. Thank you. And over to you ma’. Am.

Vidhi VasaInvestor Relations

Thank you and good morning. On behalf of MUFG End Time. I welcome you all to Ideaforge Technology Limited Q3 and 9 months FY26 earnings conference call. From the management side we have Mr. Ankit Mehtar, Chief Executive Officer and whole time Director and Mr. Vipul Joshi, Chief Financial Officer and whole time Director. I hope everyone had an opportunity to go through our investor deck and press release that we have uploaded on our exchange and company’s website. A short disclaimer I would like to say before we begin the call. This call may contain some of the forward looking statements which are completely based upon our beliefs, opinion and expectations.

As of today, these statements are not a guarantee of our future performance and may involve unfortunate risk and uncertainties. With this now, I hand over the call to Mr. Ankit Mehta. Over to you sir.

Ankit MehtaCEO & Whole-Time Director

Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us for Idea forges quarter three financial year 26 earnings conference call. Wishing you all a very happy new year. I’m joined by our CFO Mr. Vipul Joshi and our investor relations team. If I had to summarize this quarter in one line then I would say that while Q3 was muted in terms of numbers, the impending demand finally fructified into orders and has reinvigorated our focus on delivery. And all the recent developments are a proof of the long term potential of the industry that keeps us looking forward to what’s coming ahead.

That’s the lens I’ll use through this speech. What’s our order book position? Focus on revenue recognition and our ability to execute. Impact on margin and profitability. And how are we positioning for the next cycle? Starting with the order book. FY26 has been a defining year for Ideafort. So far, year to date we have added approximately 440 crores of orders to our order book. The highest quantum of orders in a single year in our two decade journey. In Q3 alone, the order inflow was broad based. We added more than 102 crores through large opportunities and roughly 115 crores through multiple smaller orders.

This matters for two reasons. First, it shows that demand is not concentrated in just one program or one customer. Second, it creates a healthier execution pipeline, multiple delivery milestones, multiple revenue recognition events, and more predictable conversions over the next few quarters. As of the end of the quarter, our order book was approximately 350 crores and with the addition in the current month it stands at approximately 368 crores. The order book is the single clearest indicator of revenue visibility in our business. Since the beginning of the year when we received our first large order, we have been gearing up to deliver on that order and have gone through the phases of securing the necessary components and subsystems that come together to enable the production and subsequent delivery.

As we speak, we are already awaiting customer inspections of the delivery for a part of the quantity and are in advanced stages of finishing subsequent lots while at the same time executing shorter supply time orders as well. We would also like to mention here that due to shifting geopolitical conditions and the aggressive nature of this global posture, we are observing certain supply side constraints and we are working closely with our supply chain partners to navigate the dynamic challenges. However, our readiness makes us confident of delivering around 40% to 45% of the open order book in the present quarter and recognizing the revenue.

We are also comfortable in our ability to realize our entire order book into revenue in the stipulated timelines based on our financial capability and working capital limits with our banking partners. Having said that, our margin expectations on the deliveries we will make in the quarter will be healthier than all our previous quarters this year and thus with both the quantity of billing and better gross margins, we are confident of turning profitable. As you are aware, our gross margins and overall numbers are not easily tracked quarter on quarter or year on year for the quarter due to strong dependency on the orders executed in that specific quarter and the vagaries of that are visible in our Q3 numbers as well.

Building on what we have been consistently emphasizing, electronic warfare resilience has shifted from a wish list item to a baseline requirement and that shift is now translating into real procurement decisions. During the quarter, we secured capital emergency procurement orders from the Indian army worth more than hundred crores for our Tactical Class Zolt UAV and Mini UAV Switch. These wins are significant because they come after rigorous evaluations, including trials in electronically contested environments and tighter country of origin and intellectual property checks. Zolt has been designed from ground up to meet these requirements. Switch continues to build on its proven operational track record as a reliable hybrid vertical takeoff and landing platform.

These platforms, equipped with our EW resilience capability for high threat signal denied operations including strong ECCM and GNSS denied autonomy, add real capability to the forces and not just incremental features. And from a business perspective, as more current and upcoming programs explicitly bake in EW and counter drone operating conditions into their requirements, the capability we have built becomes a repeatable edge. It helps us qualify faster, compete stronger and pursue follow on and expanded orders across platforms, not just win a one off contract. Further, recent global conflicts have made it very clear that nations can’t rely on imports alone.

They need to build indigenous defence capabilities and capacity. For India, that signal becomes real became real during Operation Sindur. In the aftermath, our security forces have significantly accelerated their procurement and induction of new technologies. Emergency procurement cycle six, including decentralized procurement at the command level clearly demonstrated that the forces are now focused on rapidly building both capability and scale. On top of this, recent reports of a fresh procurement outlay of around 20,000 crores across ISR platforms, loitering munitions and strike drones provide a strong multi year demand tailwind for the domestic drone industry with indigenously developed platforms, secure subsystems, full stack technology and strategic partnerships with leading DPSUs, DRDO Labs and private entities to co develop combat capabilities.

Idea Forge is gearing up to meet evolving requirements by expanding beyond intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and reinforcing leadership in India’s drone ecosystem. On the civil side, the Indian law enforcement and paramilitary forces have been a primary driver for the civil demand along with geospatial applications. Our collaboration with CDAC to integrate drones into India’s emergency response network will unlock new use cases and opportunities and drive the adoption of drones and flight docks are drone as a service offering. Further, we have already conducted several live proof of concept deployments for our integrated capability. What is changing in the civil and enterprise markets is that customers are increasingly looking for outcomes, not just hardware.

That is where our broader solutions approach via software platforms like Flight Cloud matters. Over time this can become a stabilizer alongside defense with more repeatable deployments and also the reports of PLI 2.0 for drones and RD incentives will further boost innovation and strengthen domestic research and development and manufacturing ecosystems. We also continue to compound our advantage through real world operations. Our deployed UAVs have completed more than 150,000 flights with our end users in the field during the period up to end of December 2025 and over 850,000 flights. Cumulatively. That operational experience is not a vanity metric.

Every flight is data, mission profiles, environmental stresses, user workflows, failure modes and the nuances that only show up outside a lab. This compounds over time into better products, better software, better reliability and ultimately higher customer trust which shows up in a repeat usage and increased adoption of the technology. This extensive end user experience has helped us over the years to innovate and develop cutting edge technologies. The strong patent portfolio of 100 plus patents is a testament to our learning and our ability to convert learnings to our advantage. On a proud note, zolt and Switch UAVs will be displayed at the Republic Day Parade to demonstrate India’s indigenous defence capability.

It’s symbolic but it also reflects a real shift. India is moving from importing technology to building and scaling it domestically, internationally. Our joint venture with First Breach in the United States currently in the formation and execution phase is a deliberate move to build a credible on ground operating footprint and not just a sales presence. The objective is to localize key elements of operations such as assembly, manufacturing, program execution and go to market by leveraging First Breach’s infrastructure and access to the US Defense ecosystem. With tighter pathways for regulatory clearances for imported drones and trade policy volatility adding uncertainty to import led supply chains, a US based setup improves our ability to stay compliant, reduce supply risk and compete more effectively in government and enterprise programs.

As the JV gets operationalized through approval setup and execution readiness, it positions us to move faster with when customer cycles convert while keeping delivery, pricing and regulatory exposure more under our control. To close, here’s what we want you to take away. The impending demand has fructified into orders, INRs 440 crore order booking year to date and an open order book of around 368 crores as we speak. Revenue recognition is now the mission. We are confident in the full year’s gross margin trajectory of 50% plus for FY26 supported by our order mix and execution of higher value program in Q4 is sufficient cash and funding capability to support working capital for deliveries so execution is not constrained by liquidity.

Industry tailwinds like outlay of Fresh procurement worth 20,000 crores and PLI 2.0 and RD initiatives create positive market conditions from both demand and supply sides. Thank you for your time and continued support. We can now move to the Q and A.

Questions and Answers:

operator

Thank you very much. We will now begin with the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press Star and one on the Touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue you may press star and two participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question comes from the line of Jai Chauhan from three Netra asset managers. Please go ahead.

Jai Chauhan

Good morning and thank you for the opportunity. I’m audible?

Vipul Joshi

Yes, yes.

Jai Chauhan

I just had two questions. First, is in some state level tenders planning checks that Idea Force work with some private local partners. So can you help us understand whether these partners act as a prime bidder or or as a facilitator or and also specifically who bears a deposit, bank guarantee and money working capital in such cases?

Vipul Joshi

Yeah. So Jay, thank you for the question. Typically, if you followed our trajectory in the last three years since listing, we have enumerated that our overall base and approach of approaching to our customers in multifold one where enlarged tenders or otherwise the direct participation of Idea Forge as well as we have now a large partner base across the country where who will help us in penetration to different opportunities as well as give us support and help in our L1 and L2 support and delivering the training programs to the end customers as and where is required. So in tender opportunities they also participate as our lead bidders for those opportunities and also help in execution of those contracts.

Jai Chauhan

Right. So if they are the lead bidders, they bear working capital. Right. And do they pay upfront for the inventory and how does that work? Exactly.

Vipul Joshi

So it also can depends upon contract to contract, but it is largely within 30 days payments with all the partners.

Jai Chauhan

Okay, okay. And there is no advance as such. Right. For example, if I am your partner.

Vipul Joshi

Opportunity, which typically is part of all the EP or a fast track procurement and if the contract has a feature of a advance from the end customer, then the same is also party of our arrangement with the partner.

Jai Chauhan

What is a proportion of the revenue today that flows through such partner led state contacts versus direct OEM led contracts?

Vipul Joshi

So we do not really track as distribution between what is the partner led revenue and the direct Idea Force led revenue. It is blended right now.

Jai Chauhan

Okay. And also like could you walk us through your typical life cycle of defense of state and like I just wanted to understand whether trials precede L1 or L1 is identified first and then tested and afterward. And also once if it’s technically compliant, does the L1 bidder usually get the full order or the orders are split. And also in cases, you know, for example, if an Idea Forge drone has some additional capabilities beyond the base specs and if you are not the Low lowest bidder does the how does the procurement typically play out there?

Vipul Joshi

So in a typical tender scenario there are multiple stages. One starting point, the tender submission RFP is out there is a paper evaluation on which is there for all the technical specifications that have been submitted Post that qualification criteria is when vendor are invited for field trials. In the field evaluation trials is when people are asked to showcase their products line item by line item as to what the RFP details are. And anybody who is not able to qualify in those field trials is basically not part of the financial bid opening and L1 bidder is the last person who receives the order.

Some contracts of late have had the feature where the because of the nature of the contract there can be a split of orders. But largely historically speaking it has been one single person who has been awarded the contract.

Ankit Mehta

It’s a contract dependent condition. It does not have any sort of I mean it just what’s stipulated in the contract.

Vipul Joshi

It’s not a standing conditions for all contracts as being same

Ankit Mehta

and you can’t change it later.

Jai Chauhan

So it is typically L1 only right. After the technical

Vipul Joshi

technical evaluation you do get your additional points, but that not necessarily mean that even if you are not the L1, you’ll be awarded the contract.

Jai Chauhan

So for example, if our drone has additional capabilities like additional features, what additional features to whatever it is mentioned in the RFP then also you will have to be the lowest bidder right to to win the win the tender. Or is there any kind of weighted.

Ankit Mehta

Bearing Unless and until there is something that the customer has described in capital procurement as what is known as enhanced performance parameters that is only happening in defense. You know capital procurement where enhanced performance parameters can give you some pricing advantages when the financial bid opens.

Jai Chauhan

Got it, Got it. Understood. And lastly on indigenization. But like how deep is the audit today? Like for example, does it stop at Idea Force or it extend to Tire 1 Tire 2 suppliers? Like for instance, if you source from an Indian electronics partner who in turn uses imported components, how is the indigenous content evaluated?

Ankit Mehta

It is based on certain formulas that particularly you know happen in defense contracts and other contracts as well. It is something that you have to provide a CA certificate for. And there is chaining of the overall requirement as well depending on the value of the subsystems.

Vipul Joshi

So local content attribution is also verified and checked.

Jai Chauhan

Understood. Thank you. That’s it from my side. Thank you.

Ankit Mehta

Thank you.

operator

Thank you. A request to all participants. Please restrict your questions to two per participants. For more questions, please rejoin the queue. The next question comes from the line of Hardik Rawat from IFL Capital. Please go ahead.

Hardik Rawat

Good morning team and congratulations on the healthy that you’ve seen this quarter. My first question would be with regards to the inflows themselves. 440 crores of inflows you’ve seen year to date. Are you expecting any other large sized order inflows in the fourth quarter or should we see this as. Except for the small size orders that have come here and there, this should be the total set of order that we should be looking at in FY26.

Ankit Mehta

Yeah, nothing large Hardik is, you know, particularly from a EP standpoint remains open at this point in time. We are continuing to track meaningful opportunities in the run rate business and we are expecting closures from that.

Hardik Rawat

Any updates with regards to the N1 pipeline that we’re having with regards to overseas customers, the African customers where you’re facing some issues and that is one position ultimately conforming into order inflows, is it still a work in progress or are we writing that off?

Ankit Mehta

So it is still a work in progress Hardik. In fact the number of opportunities that we have bid in international business has grown only we’ve had a bunch of customer visits at our place as well over the last few months where we are seeing definite interest in trying to close things. However, you know the final conversion is what we are awaiting right now but it’s very positive in terms of motion and movement.

Hardik Rawat

Got it. Another point.

operator

We request that you to return to the question queue for the follow up question.

Hardik Rawat

Thank you sir.

operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Deepen Vakin from Philip Capital please word. Hello, Mr. Wakeel.

Dipen Vakil

Hello. Yeah hi. Thank you for this opportunity and congratulations on an encouraging order inflow for the year. So my first question is on the similar line. So right now this year whatever major order winds that have happened have been emergency procurement whereas which are all executable within 12 months. So what are we looking at? So what are the other orders that are there in pipeline in terms of which can help us in a sustainable kind of a visibility Especially now that our product profile is also improving from tactical UAVS as well as the logistic UAVS coming in and at the same time our flagship product on Netra and Switch UAV continue to get upgraded.

So what is the kind of opportunity we are looking at in the near term? If you can put some number in it.

Ankit Mehta

Yeah, so Tusha, Deepen, if you remember we have been working on certain make programs. Those programs are what we have been continuing to Track and we are executing on those programs. There are milestones of those programs that have to be completed in early this year and those programs are certain large programs that we expect to convert into meaningful opportunities which will have a longer delivery time period as well associated with them. So that is one part of what we are tracking in terms of opportunities. Of course I also mentioned that there are, you know, reports of a larger procurement being planned for drones in various categories.

That’s another area within which like I mentioned, we are looking at partnering in order to expand the base of opportunities that we can, you know, be a part of going forward. That’s one effort at our side and of course there are certain other long term opportunities on the run rate side or in the civil side as well where we are working on very interesting opportunities. Once they fructify, they can be multi year opportunities for us as well. So there is a deep pipeline that is created, pretty large pipeline as well. But we continue to track it and execute on each of the necessary features and capabilities that we need to build for executing those programs.

Dipen Vakil

Got it sir. Thank you so much for that clarification. You also mentioned about the PLI scheme coming in. So any timeline that you have in your, in your experience that can be. We can expect PLI 2.0 to come in for especially for focused on drones and anti drones

Ankit Mehta

presently. The reports that I’ve also read and same as you would have is that there may be something in the budget. So we are also holding our breath for that.

Dipen Vakil

Got it. And any new product that you’re focusing on. Sure, I’ll contact you. Thank you.

operator

A reminder to all participants, please restrict your questions to two per participant. For more questions, please rejoin the queue. The next question comes from the line of Tushar from Peace. Well, please go ahead. Mr. Tushar, you may proceed with your question. As there is no response.

Tushar

Yeah, yeah. Hello. Am I audible now?

operator

Yes sir. Yes.

Tushar

Yeah. Thank you. So firstly, congratulations on getting your first order for the Zold drone. So if I understand correctly, this gold comes with a lot of munition capabilities. So I just want to understand what is the potential for this new category that has come our way and how confident are we to achieve more orders in this particular segment? That’s my first question.

Ankit Mehta

Thanks. Tushar. Tushar, if you remember we’ve been building Zold for certain make two opportunities. So that’s the, I would say the opportunity pipeline for that, that it was being worked towards, you know, and that’s what happens like when you are building something Forward looking and you are building it because you see the demand signals. Typically that’s how you embark on a program when you see the demand signals and you believe that you have the capability to deliver on it. When the opportunity came during the, you know, in the aftermath of opsindur, we had a platform that could be demonstrated and was able to garner the necessary opportunity and orders.

So yes, there is a continuing pipeline for that. And you know, I just wanted to underscore the fact that building new capabilities are very, very important vector of increasing the total addressable market for the company. And in general, the MAKE two opportunities and other programs around combat capabilities are areas where we are seeing opportunities. There is continued demand for these kind of programs. We are working on one such, two such programs in the Make 2 itself. And of course we will have to continue to look at opportunities that are going to come in the next cycle for similar platforms when, when the new cycle gets announced in terms of procurement.

Tushar

Okay, that’s, that’s great to know, sir. And another thing, I was reading an article where it was mentioned that Indian government is planning to source about 10,000 drones per corpse. And in totality they’re looking at almost 1 lakh drones to be procured by 2027, including all kind of small medium surveillance combat drones. So I just want to understand how this Idea Forge plays to benefit from all of it. And also, also if I understand correctly, under this program, government is training their soldiers on how to operate drones. And if I understand correctly, even Idea Forge is helping the government in this area.

So if you could talk a little more about this particular segment, how we are helping the soldiers for on the training program and how are we going to benefit from this sourcing of the government by 2027.

Ankit Mehta

So Tushar, it’s a great question. That’s exactly the demand signal that I’ve been speaking about. There is a lot of restructuring that is visible in the Indian armed forces. And based on that restructuring, we are expecting a lot of demand to flow in. That’s perhaps one of the reasons why we saw the recent reports of a large procurement in terms of our own capability. Presently we’ve been focused on building multi role assets. The assets that can do in a very, very high, you can say precision and performance ISR missions. That was our primary role. Some of these platforms are getting adapted to being able to carry certain munitions as well.

And we are also looking at building new platforms based on the exact requirements that the forces are going to come up with. So we are creating that internal capability to react based on the clear specifications that we will get privy to once we have the opportunities in front of us. But the background capability, if you see in terms of having our own indigenous stack and self developed stack for the entire avionics for the aircraft, the GNSS denied and communication denied resilience capability as well as the ability to do onboard compute and to support compute on the edge and AI on the edge.

We have the necessary ingredients that can be leveraged across a very wide set of platform capabilities that we can react to when the opportunities come. So that preparation phase in that one sense is what we’ve spent our time in and we have arrived at a version of these capabilities that can be deployed on the field. While we continue to iterate and evolve these capabilities, we have the ability to react better now in this upcoming phase of procurement and opportunity. So every specific capability that they will buy in bulk has not been declared publicly presently. Therefore we have to respond.

We are preparing to be responsive as well as there are certain capabilities we are aware of opportunities in for which these platforms that we already have into some size and shape are already applicable for those opportunities.

Tushar

Okay, great. And are we working on solar powered drones also? Because recently competitor company NRT order for a solar powered drone that can stay in air for almost 24 hours because of the powering done by solar. So are we also working in this area and also on the YETI drone? So when do we expect this prototype to be ready? That was also the question I asked in the last call. So that’s all from my side.

Ankit Mehta

Yeah, so the, the propulsion, you know, testing version of the YETI platform is going to fly within the first half of this year and an advanced prototype again we expect to fly towards the end of the year, which is the next iteration getting us closer to the product in terms of what is happening with respect to the solar power, solar powered or HAPS opportunities. I think Tushar, we have to probably not participate in some categories because again the breadth will be very large. So that is one category presently we have not envisaged in our portfolio because in most of the low altitude missions that is not going to be a practical solution in the short term for solutions that are flying at a very large altitude for them to be leverageable across the entire seasonal expanse of atmospheric and you know, conditions.

It’s also going to be tough for them to look at, you know, what’s happening on the ground unless it’s a clear atmospheric condition. So we are still sort of building our thesis on that. So we’re not there yet insofar as that capability is concerned.

Tushar

Okay, and 18 months back, if I may just quiz the last question, please. Okay, so 18 months back, we were working on two programs that we were calling as Zoltan Yeti, now ZTI being commercial and Yeti is in process. Any other program, program that you have a name of and then you want. To talk about and in which area. We are working upon.

Ankit Mehta

Like I said, I think right now the approach is shifting a little bit. Instead of going after a specific program, right now our focus is on making sure that we are responsive to the opportunities that we will see. And therefore, presently I can’t articulate a specific platform for you, but the categories that we have been operating in, we have expanded the definition of those categories and are more flexible in what all we will build in those categories.

Tushar

Okay. Okay. Thank you so much, sir, and all the best. Thank you.

Ankit Mehta

Thank you.

operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Jatin Jadav from Sahasra Capital. Please go ahead.

Jatin Jadhav

Hello. Am I audible?

Ankit Mehta

Yes, yes.

Jatin Jadhav

First of all, congratulations on your orders. Actually, my question was more of more. More on the lines of the capabilities. So how does your UAV maintain reliable navigation, mission continuity and flight sustainability in a full GPS denied and communication contested environment? Use visually something like a terrain contour mapping or do you prefet the pre feed the flight data and then it does ISR and then come back. So this is the first question.

Ankit Mehta

So Jatin, it’s a great question. If you see the technical update or the product development update that we shared in the presentation, you know, this time you will see a small column that talks about the capabilities that we have built in house for resilient communication and navigation. So we have a specific communication solution that we have built that helps us maintain communication with the drone even in pretty challenging environments that we have observed from the testings and the trials that we have undergone. So that is one part we have developed a unique capability there. On top of that, we have developed what is known as a CRPA antenna that has the ability to reject jamming signals from specific directions.

So that helps us in reducing the noise that is generated by GPS jammers and continues to help the UAV look at satellites, actual satellites, rather than focusing on the jamming signals that’s a standard technology in the domain. We have developed our own version and variant of that that performs as good or better than what’s available in the market otherwise. As well as we have developed our own visual positioning system. And that visual positioning system in both day and night. Takes snapshots of the ground in a way that. Or uses a continuous video pipeline from the sensors that we have embedded in that solution and creates its own map and uses that map as a reference for continued navigation even in denied conditions.

And both of these solutions are pretty accurate for ISR missions.

Jatin Jadhav

Got it. Just a follow up on that. Let’s say we are emitting information from the drone to let’s say any link. But won’t that itself create the drone will itself become a target according because it’s emitting RF signals or any way in any form. So won’t that be a little counterintuitive?

Ankit Mehta

But yes, so absolutely. See, there is, there are two ways to, you know, navigate the environment, right? One is navigation of the environment in an autonomous manner. Now when you’re autonomous and you’re in a completely communication, no communication environment, then you have to imagine a mission that does not require real time, in real time intelligence or does not require real time interference by the operator or anybody else. In that case you can be completely radio silent. Most likely you will be gathering information. In some cases you may be listening to what is, you know, happening on the other side.

And in many cases they can become targets for your drone as well if you have combat capability. So there are certain radio silent missions that you can do. Those missions is one way of doing that navigation and capability which we are capable of. Apart from that, there are missions where you need real time communication or confirmation of a target. And therefore in those kind of situations, again, you have to be building the capability that some communication can pass through even though the system is, you know, in a contested environment. Yes, the system may get detected.

Yes, the system can be targeted as well in the future. However, the soft targeting won’t work on it, which is why it is being designed to resist communication and GPS jamming. Hard targeting may work against such systems, but then it’s an unmanned systems getting done, getting targeted versus a manned system in an alternate environment. Because that’s the only alternative to the aerial perspective and aerial view or aerial missions other than deploying an unmanned system. So that’s the overall, you know, environment or domain that the entire unmanned systems domain has to operate in.

Jatin Jadhav

Got it, got it. Just one small follow up question. So when the drone or your product is in listing mode, so will that help in essentially identifying the enemies EW zones and possibly help the suppression of air defense missions for our troops like will that be a use case?

Ankit Mehta

Yes, with the right sensors on board it can be.

Jatin Jadhav

Thank you thank you so much. I’ll get back into the queue.

Ankit Mehta

Thank you.

operator

The next question comes from the line of Nikhil Gupta from YU Capital. Please go ahead.

Nikhil Gupta

Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. I hope I’m loud and clear. So my first question. Yeah, my first question is regarding, like you highlighted touched upon network, we are expanding beyond ISR operations. And also in the, in the last question you mentioned about that we’re not looking to develop another platform apart like when YETI is finished, like we are shifting our strategies. So can you please highlight on this how we are planning to move ahead. I think this must be very important for the other investors as well. If you can expand what we are thinking, how we are expanding beyond isr, it would be a great help.

Ankit Mehta

Sure, Nikhil. In a way, from an overall portfolio standpoint, we were already doing beyond isr. We were doing geospatial applications. We are progressing towards inspection applications as well as with yeti, we were building a logistics delivery capability. However, if you look at what we were doing with Zolt, we were on Zolt looking to mount payloads up to 10 kgs in weight, deploy those payloads in conditions where they could be used for specific missions that were outlined as a part of the MAKE program that we were participating in. So that gives ZOLD a combat capability that allows it to look at targets.

And then of course, after looking at targets, it also allows it to, you know, take action as long as the right payloads are mounted. Right. And then overall, when we look at how the market is presently shaping up and the kind of platform capabilities and platform sizes that are being demanded, we are looking at essentially trying to understand what are the reactive approaches that we can take today to look at an overall, you know, scenario where we are not sort of straddled or you can say we are not limited by the platforms that we are maturing in isolation today.

Those platforms are doing well. They will continue to do well in their category, but the categories keep shifting and therefore you have to be a bit more responsive and therefore our approach will be more platform oriented approach going forward where in the modular fashion in which we’ve already built our technology, we can adapt it to more number of airframes and more types of missions for the end user because the intelligence base has been created and the platform itself, the hardware of the airframe and some other elements is something that you can responsibly build at a faster speed.

So there is that sort of change that we are doing in our approach. It is not being done outside the categories we were identifying but it is now moving towards responsive opportunities for large programs that are coming up. So that program count that we are now seeing is actually increasing quite a bit. And to be a part of many categories we have to be adopting a modular approach and move away from slightly monolithic product approach that we had earlier. So that’s the kind of shift that we are going to see in our progress.

Nikhil Gupta

Understood. Makes sense. So my last question is, is about strategy for nano drones. I know we have invested in Vantage Robotics, so how do you see that a minority stake in the company or we will leverage and build for India? Like I just want to know the high level long term plan in that sense.

Ankit Mehta

So Nikhil, it’s a very interesting question. There are three, four things that are happening globally insofar as small drones are concerned. One is that there are very, very tiny drones that are required for in many cases for room interventions. They call it room interventions. Basically drones that can go inside a building and clear the building for the soldiers to ensure that they are safe and there able to. They should be able to go inside and do their mission right. So there is one class of drones that is currently being leveraged for that. So most of the nano drones are of that nature.

Let me put it this way. And therefore, and then of course it doesn’t remain a nano drone necessarily. Sometimes it can be a larger drone. In fact, many people are using the Chinese drones globally to do room clearing because they are convenient to operate. And except for the fact that there is a cyber security risk, people are leveraging whatever is available in the market right now. The second class of drones that was very popular as a hobby was FPV drones which are smaller drones that people carry in their backpack but now they are being loaded with munition and they are acting as attack agents.

So that definition is also growing. And the mode of operation is also of a way that they can survive some parts of EW resilience because the communication is analog. There are certain ways in which it operates that keeps it functional till the very end. So there are multiple types of systems. A particular type of system is what our present partner builds. But there are several other types of systems that are, you know, a requirement or in demand based on opportunities. We may decide to look at those capabilities as well. And we are open to partnering for capabilities that we do not have at this point in time.

operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Mithun Aswath from Kiran Advisors. Please go ahead.

Mithun Aswath

Hi, I just wanted to get a sense you mentioned that half of your order book would be able to execute in Q4. So are we expecting, you know, you know, around 200 crores of execution in Q4? You also mentioned that you’re looking to break even at the annual level for FY26. I. I understand the business is very lumpy and it’s very difficult for you to kind of second guess how your order book or revenues trajectory will happen as we’ve seen in the last couple of years. But I just wanted to understand, obviously you’re a listed company and you have to kind of meet the annual or quarterly kind of expectations.

In a business like yours, how do you see the next couple of years faring? Would you continue to have this sort of lumpiness or are you seeing a little bit more visibility compared to the last couple of years?

Ankit Mehta

Thanks for your question. I think, you know, if I were to look at how the, you know, you’re right that the situation has panned out the way it has over the last couple of years with the present cycle and the posture, we feel very confident that a baseline activity will continue to happen because we are seeing growth in the run rate business as well. And that run rate business is an area where we will continue to see more activation, more traction. And we are expecting that next year also the momentum on the run rate business is only going to go up because increasingly we are seeing that the adoption of the technology, even in enterprises is becoming very, very evident.

We get more inquiries for adoption, we are uncovering unique use cases, and therefore I’m pretty confident that the baseline of the business is actually now stepping up from where it used to be earlier. And that is one base we are confident of over the next few years. However, those very large opportunities will continue to make it look lumpy when they come. And therefore that is a reality that we’ll have to live with. But the baseline is definitely improving and we will see a better baseline business over the next couple of years for sure. And also what is happening is that with the shift of capabilities from particularly for defense and even homeland security to some extent, progressively we will see that some of these capabilities that we have built will again create an environment where having them in house is going to give us a competitive advantage going forward and the procurement will not happen without those capabilities.

Mithun Aswath

Sure, sure. And do you think this sort of gross margin of 50% is something sustainable even in FY27 or. It would really depend on the underlying orders that you have.

Ankit Mehta

I mean, as of now, the order book that we have, that definitely gives us Confidence. However, as more orders add in, we will be able to probably respond to that bit more, bit more progressively.

Mithun Aswath

Sure. Thank you.

operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Ishani Jain from MAS Capital, please. Word.

Ishani Jain

Hello sir. So my question is like you have highlighted multiple enterprise deployments across mining, forestry, crowd management and coastal surveillance. So like what proportion of these deployments are currently revenue generating versus the trial based.

Ankit Mehta

Ishani? Many surveillance based services that we are doing in mining and in some enterprises they are paid customers who have basically adopted our technology to help us monitor their facilities and their location. We are very effective in those environments in terms of forestry. In some pockets we are doing POCs. In some cases or in most cases now actually we are doing paid PoCs. So even if it is a PoC, in many cases it is a paid PoC. So that’s also very helpful. And in terms of overall mix of opportunities, I think by adopting a more open stance with respect to having more third party payloads on our system, etc.

Is allowing us to address a wider spectrum of capabilities without necessarily creating an engineering debt on the company. So that is also helping in exploring more opportunities for us.

Ishani Jain

Okay sir, got your point. Also I have one more question, like when should investors expect meaningful revenue contributions from drone as a service and flight cloud models like by FY27 or later? And what would you be the key trigger for scaling this business?

Ankit Mehta

So Ishani, it’s very fascinating. What is happening is that flight cloud is also becoming a meaningful vector to achieve product sales. So in some cases fly cloud is a embedded part of the purchase. So that is helping us. So in a way the capability is essentially going to be such that the capability standalone will have sales, but it also will be part of many product procurements. And we are seeing that evidence today as well where platforms are being bought along with the software subscriptions so that the customer can, like I mentioned during my speech, get a solution out of the platform rather than merely getting a hardware.

So I think, you know, we have to look at the overall picture of how this product development is going to help us both in sales because that’s going to be increasingly the demand from customers that I don’t just want a hardware, I want a full solution because I don’t care who operates or how it operates. And then of course the next bit is looking at the overall capability of the standalone product as well. We do believe that in certain global opportunities and markets, as the platform matures, we can see standalone revenues coming from a wider base of customers across the world from flight, cloud and these platforms.

And it may not even require a hardware sale in that particular situation.

Ishani Jain

Okay, okay, okay sir, thank you for your point. All the best.

Ankit Mehta

Thank you.

operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Shubham Thorat from Perpetual Capital Advisors. Please go ahead.

Shubham Thorat

Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. Yeah, first question was in the call you mentioned that looking at some opportunity in civil demand which can be multi year. Along with that, some opportunity from the expanded, I mean the expected expanded up procurement from the military side, Indian arm side. So any specifics that you can provide, how we are going to benefit from that or which program are you looking to leverage in that?

Ankit Mehta

See apart from the programs you mentioned on the make side, we presently cannot give you a deeper lens on what’s happening there. Unfortunately.

Vipul Joshi

The details are yet to emerge because government programs are in works is the overall reports that we’ve been hearing.

Shubham Thorat

Okay. And parallel you also mentioning the nano drones that we are currently catering to one kind of specific application. Can you elaborate in that? And I just missed your comments there.

Ankit Mehta

Nanodrones, the partner we’ve invested in Vantage Robotics, they have a drone that can act as a personal reconnaissance drone for any soldier. It is primarily meant for only doing surveillance capability. So that’s the kind of platform you can carry it in your pocket, quote unquote, and deploy it at the last mile and get your intelligence at the last mile mission.

Shubham Thorat

Okay. And lastly, just a general question. So I just wanted to get a sense on what kind of issues you faced in last nine months or in the previous quarter and how are you, how are you addressing those? What are your expectations there.

Ankit Mehta

Shubham? In terms of issues, I would say that you know, like we mentioned that there are, you know, supply chain related areas that are emerging. As we start looking at procuring volumes, it starts emerging and those are areas that we are continuously working on. We are adapting, we are continuously doing things so that we are still ahead of time when we get to the end customer. So that’s one area that we are constantly working towards and that’s one primary, I would say area of effort right now because it’s directly linked to delivery of our systems.

Shubham Thorat

Got it. That’s it for myself. Thank you so much.

Ankit Mehta

Thank you.

operator

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Jatin Jada from Sahasar Capital. Please go ahead.

Jatin Jadhav

Hello, Am I audible?

Ankit Mehta

Yes,

Jatin Jadhav

thank you so much for one more opportunity. So this is a one more question regarding, it’s a follow up question to the earlier questions. So. Taking a Reference from the E18 growler, it’s like F18 Super Hornets modified version which does electronic attacks. So I wanted to understand, can our drones essentially carry the electronic warfare payload and then enter the enemy airspace and jam the, or possibly spoof or completely attack the enemy radar system? And then subsequently how will that payload, if we integrated into our drones, affect the power generation, the distribution, the thermal management, cooling capacity and possibly the endurance time? Or do we have to completely build a new platform altogether to achieve these goals?

Ankit Mehta

A system that can do jamming in on the other side? Typically jamming is something that requires a very large power base as well. So I do believe that a platform like ours presently may not be able to do it. Even if we are able to carry a payload of that nature, we may not be able to jam for a very long time. That much I can envisage because from whatever I hear, it takes several kilowatts of power to sustain jamming. So that would be one, I would say, area of, you know, investigation that may have to be done for offensive capability there.

But a listening capability doesn’t require that much power. That is something which is feasible. And then along with the listening capability, if you have the ability to attack, those can be a reasonable combination in the future.

Jatin Jadhav

That was pretty much from my side. Thank you so much.

Ankit Mehta

Thanks Jatin.

operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in the interest of time, this was the last question and now hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Thank you. And over to you sir.

Ankit Mehta

Thank you everyone for your questions and the patient listening. I remain confident in Ideaforge’s resilience and fundamental strength. Our nearly 368 crore order book provides robust revenue, visibility and stands as a testament to the trust that we’ve earned by delivering on time and in full. As India’s leading drone player, we are strategically aligned with the historical scale defense procurement that is underway and are ready to meet our nation’s unprecedented demand for indigenously built and secure UAVs. To our long term shareholders and new investors, thank you for your faith in us. Let’s stay the course and propel the next phase of Idea Forge’s growth together.

Thank you.

operator

Thank you on behalf of idea Forge Technology Ltd. That concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and. And even now, disconnect your line. Thank you.