New Delhi, July 2024.
Optiemus
Unmanned Systems(OUS), a subsidiary of Optiemus Infracom Limited, a leading
telecommunications and electronics manufacturing company in India, today
launched its range of drones in agricultural and mapping category, which will
be powered by components designed and manufactured in India. The innovative and competitively priced
portfolio of drones are being showcased at the ongoing 5th
Drone International Expo at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. Optiemus Unmanned
Systems (OUS) will be adopting a ‘Drone as a Service’ strategy to
reach out to target markets and will be training around 6000 pilots to manage a
fleet of 5000 drones by the end of 2025. Optiemus Infracom will be investing
around INR 140 Crore in this project and targeting a service revenue of around INR
600 to INR 900 crores by the end of calendar year 2025.
Themain goal for OUS is to align with Honorable Prime
minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji’s vision of “Make in India” andcontribute
towards the prosperity of farmers who are the backbone of the country.With this
focus, OUS will developdrones with indigenous parts. The company targets to
achieve a minimum of 65% indigenization and plans to increase this target up to
75% by the end of this financial year. OUShas already successfully localized various
components including power distribution board, anti-spark switch, flight
controller, airframe, and motor. To support the farmers, OUS endeavors to
launch these drones to be used in precision farming and spraying at affordable
prices. The pricing strategy will enable mass level deployment and adoption of
drones, across India. The initiative is expected to help the farmers improve
their farmland productivity and yield while reducing their input costs which
will lead to an increase in their incomes.
After-sales service and support will be another key
focus of ours to ensure that operations are run smoothly. To support this, OUS
will have a set of drones and drone components on standby and also a team with
the relevant technical and operational qualifications.
The Agri Shakti 10L is an
agricultural drone thatcan fly for up to 15 minutes at maximum capacity and
supports a 10-liter spray tank capable of spraying 1 acre in approximately 7
minutes.
In order to support and contribute towards
Honorable Prime minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji’s vision of supporting the
farmers of the country, OUS is launching the Agri Shakti 10L at a starting
price of 2.25 lakhs plus GST.
The Vajra QC P20is a precision agriculture and mapping
drone which weighs about 2kg and boasts a flight duration of 30+ minutes. The
drone has a maximum range of 4 km with a survey area of 0.5 to 1 sq. km. The Vajra
QCP20 can perform a wide array of tasks in precision agriculture i.e., optimizing
crop health, yields, leading to sustainable farming. The drone is also ideal
for mapping farmlands for the Insurance industry to access damage to the crop
in event of natural calamities.
With
the help of the above drones, OUS will be offering services focused on
precision agriculture, pesticides/fertilizer spraying. The drone-based service
will utilize a hub and spoke model to bring efficiency, cost-effectiveness and
speed to agricultural practices in India. OUS is actively engaging with
multiple National and State-runco-operative societies, Government Organizations
and Agricultural Universities.
Mr.
Ashok Kumar Gupta, Chairman, Optiemus Infracom Limited, said,
“We have decided to march on a unique business model for our drone business and
this is based on our ground-level research, which called out issues like lack
of know-how on operating drones, scarcity of spare parts etc. The potential for
this business is huge given the benefits it serves; we are set to leverage our
expertise in drone technology to offer a cost-effective and efficient solution
for agricultural and defence needs. It is our effort to revolutionize
traditional farming practices and enhance crop yields while promoting
sustainability and environmental stewardship. We have already got a portfolio
of military grade drones and have started selling our drones to India’s defense
and paramilitary forces”.