A drone that can carry humans? Meet the Pune startup that is working wonders for Indian defence

Sagar Defence Engineering, which earned $1.50 million last financial year, is one of the country’s most important manufacturers of unmanned marine vehicles for commercial, defence, and scientific purposes, using Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics.

A picture of the founders. On the left is Capt Nikunj Parashar

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At the office-cum-factory of Sagar Defence Engineering (SDE) in Chakan, Pune, a part of the floor is painted with a motivational quote — ‘Talent does not exist, hard work is our obsession and you can be anyone you want as long as you put in the time and effort’.

It is here that 84 specialised multi-copter, vertical take-off drones were designed and manufactured for the UP Police. Another product, to be inducted into the Indian Navy, is taking shape. This is ‘Varuna’, a drone that can carry people. It was demonstrated before Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Seminar in Delhi in July 2022.

SDE, which earned $1.50 million in the last financial year, is one of the country’s most important manufacturers of unmanned marine vehicles for commercial, defence, and scientific purposes, using Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. The business with the UP Police, alone, will generate them revenue of Rs 6.50 crore.

The man behind the startup is its co-founder who is a former officer of the merchant navy. Capt Nikunj Parashar, who is also the CEO, proudly recounts that he failed Chemistry and Mathematics in Class XII, swore he wouldn’t fail at anything else again, and went on to become an engineer and acquire several other qualifications. Capt Parashar isn’t impressed by degrees from prestigious institutes unless they are accompanied by personal grit, passion and perseverance.

Parashar set up SDE with Mridul Babbar, the director of the company, and Lakshay Dang, who is the CTO.

“I had a close friend, who was the second engineer on the ship. He was having certain family issues. One night, he jumped into the water. It was almost 7 am that we realised he was missing when he did not come around for breakfast. We traced the whole path back in the Atlantic but could not recover his body. There have been other instances of fire happening at sea. These experiences pushed me to decide to do something different for the maritime community and that formed the foundation of Sagar Defence Engineering,” says Parashar.

He set up a company that developed a technology to turn any boat into an unmanned vehicle. The boats could be autonomous, semi-autonomous or tele-operated from a distance. “This is where the whole concept of SDE started,” he says.

SED’s first home in 2015 was a 120 sqft space in Mumbai. The company moved to a 12,000 sqft office in Chakan and later grew to a 25,000 sqft office. It now has the approval of the government of Maharashtra for another two-and-a-half acres of land.

“The market is changing very rapidly. The maritime market, especially, is picking up in a very big way right now in India. The sea level is rising and the business is going to keep increasing as long as there is technology serving the purpose. We see a market of close to $2 billion in the next five years only for maritime service vehicles across Asia and the sub-Asian continent,” says Parashar. Along the way, it found support from organisations such as ONGC, which invested Rs 4.54 crore in the company in 2018.

Sagar has moved into maritime, aviation and ground and has four types of unmanned surface vehicles and nine types of platforms for drones, among others. At the Chakan facility, there is a hive of activity around an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle that will be launched from warships and used for mine countermeasures. Work on this project has been going on for 18 months.