Coromandel Intl ups stake in Dhaksha for ₹204-Crore
Coromandel International LimitedIt, an arm of the Murugappa Group, has decided to acquire an additional 32.68 per cent stake in Dhaksha Unmanned Systems Pvt. Ltd (Dhaksha), a Chennai-based differentiated drone startup, for Rs 204 crore. This will raise Coromandel’s stake in Daksha to 51 percent.
Shares of Coromandel, which provides agricultural inputs and solutions, was priced at ₹941.85 on Thursday afternoon, gaining 0.43 pc from the previous close of 937.80 percent.
Four-year-old Daksha has emerged as a major player in the UAV space in the country, providing a range of technology solutions for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in agricultural, defence, surveillance and corporate applications.
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“Investment in Daksha continues with Coromandel’s strategy to identify promising avenues for growth beyond its core operations in agricultural inputs that will be of cumulative value to its shareholders,” Arun Alagapan, Executive Vice Chairman of Coromandel International Limited, said here in a statement. Thursday.
He said the acquisition will help Coromandel’s presence in the fast-growing drone sector as drones and their applications are expected to grow and reach a global market size of $90 billion by 2030.
“This investment follows the company’s recent announcement that it is entering the specialty chemicals and contract manufacturing (CDMO) business,” he said.
Daksha, which also provides remote pilot training services, has trained more than 950 pilots so far. DGCA certified three models of drones in the medium and small categories for agricultural and surveillance applications.
“In addition to increasing resource efficiency and sustainable practices in agriculture, Dhaksha drones have high potential in defense and corporate applications,” said Arun Alagappan.