As India accelerates its push for indigenous defence manufacturing, Jyoti Global Plast is emerging as a key player in the unmanned aerial vehicle sector, leveraging four decades of precision manufacturing to supply mission-critical drone systems and components to the country's defence ecosystem.
The Mumbai-based company, which began as a packaging specialist, has transformed itself into a materials-first UAV technology partner, producing everything from high-precision components to complete surveillance platforms and industrial cleaning drones.
"Our relevance in defence today stems from our ability to localise previously imported UAV-critical components - GNSS mounts, avionics housings, radar-compatible enclosures and FRP structural parts - strengthening India's mission readiness and reducing dependency on foreign supply chains," said Karan Shah, Chief Financial Officer of Jyoti Global Plast, in an exclsuive interview with Free Press Journal.
The company's pivot from traditional plastics manufacturing to advanced drone systems reflects broader trends in India's defence sector, where the government's Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative is driving demand for domestically engineered platforms and subsystems.
Shah, who joined the company in 2020 and became CFO in 2025, brings experience from both the chartered accountancy profession and defence sector project finance. He has led the company's IPO journey while guiding its strategic expansion into defence, aerospace and unmanned systems.
Defence applications and strategic partnerships
While the company maintains strict confidentiality around specific defence contracts, Shah outlined the operational scope of their technology. "In defence, drones today support a wide spectrum of missions including Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, perimeter security, situational awareness, payload movement and select tactical logistics," he explained.
Karan Shah, Chief Financial Officer of Jyoti Global Plast | Jyoti Global Plast
Jyoti Global Plast works with leading defence and aerospace original equipment manufacturers and authorised system integrators that supply to national programmes. The company's defence-related order book is strengthening, with growing contributions to programmes prioritising indigenous capability.
The firm's competitive advantage lies in its vertical integration. Unlike many drone assemblers, Jyoti Global Plast engineers structural components in-house using proprietary FRP composite arms, engineered polymer housings and EMI-protected enclosures - capabilities developed over decades of serving automotive and defence clients.
"Our systems differ from most assemblers because they are structurally engineered in-house," Shah noted. "This gives our platforms higher durability, vibration stability and mission reliability, elevating us from parts supplier to system-level UAV manufacturer."
Product portfolio and manufacturing expansion
The company currently manufactures multirotor mission systems, including a surveillance platform with dual optical and thermal payload capability, and AeroClean, an industrial cleaning drone designed for building façades and solar panel maintenance.
IM4 Pro – Heavy Surveillance Drone | Jyoti Global Plast
Real-world applications span both defence and civilian domains, from perimeter surveillance at strategic sites to construction monitoring, industrial inspection and renewable energy operations and maintenance.
To scale production, Jyoti Global Plast is bringing a new facility online in Mahad and commissioning a company solar power plant to improve energy resilience. The firm is also working to increase localisation of electronics and propulsion subsystems whilst targeting export markets.
Regulatory environment and market challenges
Shah acknowledged that India's drone sector faces implementation challenges despite supportive policy frameworks. "Operational adoption still depends on clearer permission workflows, trained operators and standardised safety rules," he said.
The sector operates under Directorate General of Civil Aviation oversight and related drone policies, with evolving frameworks for beyond-visual-line-of-sight and commercial operations.
Key roadblocks to mass adoption include fragmented regulatory processes at local levels, limited availability of trained operators, dependence on imported electronic subsystems and buyer hesitancy around lifecycle support.
Jyoti Global Plast is addressing these barriers through in-house training programmes, after-sales services, localisation partnerships with domestic vendors and integrated service contracts that reduce adoption risk for enterprise customers.
Strategic vision
Looking ahead, the company has outlined three strategic pillars: scaling high-precision manufacturing capacity for defence and aerospace, deepening research and development in mission-critical materials and UAV subsystems, and growing systems-level offerings.
"Over the next phase, we aim to establish Jyoti Global Plast as a materials-first UAV and defence technology partner, owning structural intellectual property, FRP engineering and subsystem integration to support India's strategic manufacturing ecosystem and expand into export-led UAV markets," Shah said.
The company projects multi-year growth driven by recurring orders from defence, infrastructure and renewable energy sectors, a trajectory that positions it at the intersection of India's twin priorities of defence modernisation and industrial self-reliance.
