On December 25, 2009, hundreds of thousands of Indians streamed into movie theatres across the country to catch the first screenings of actor Aamir Khan’s film, 3 Idiots. What most didn’t realise at the time was that the drones featured in the film were the first glimpses of a startup that would eventually emerge as a vital part of India’s defence ecosystem—IdeaForge.

Started in 2007, IdeaForge was incorporated and incubated at the Society of Innovation and Entrepreneurship—IIT Bombay’s inhouse incubator. Since its Bollywood cameo, the company has quietly gone about its business, growing into arguably the most formidable homegrown drone manufacturer in the country. 

An original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”), manufacturing drones end-to-end, its offerings span everything from hardware—primarily unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), payloads, batteries, chargers and communication systems—to software and solutions. 

As of December 2022, its customers had logged more than 300,000 flights. Today, the company claims, an IdeaForge drone takes off roughly every five minutes. Its fixed wing drone, SWITCH, is the only Indian-made drone in its weight class that offers two hours of flight time, which led the Indian Army to place a $20 million order for it.