TL;DR
Garuda Aerospace FY 26 results posted FY26 revenue of Rs.205.96 crore, up 67% from Rs.123.46 crore in FY25, and net profit (PAT) of Rs.25.92 crore, up 41% from Rs.18.37 crore, per its audited Ind AS financials.
EBITDA margin actually shrank to 18.9% in FY26 from 23.4% in FY25, despite the Board's report quoting a 19.2% figure-margin compression came largely from an Rs.11.13 crore impairment charge on bad receivables.
Trade receivables hit Rs.234.4 crore-more than the company's entire annual revenue-pushing debtor days to roughly 415. The ageing schedule shows zero rupees in the "Not Due" bucket: every rupee owed to Garuda was already overdue at year-end.
The company burned Rs.41.55 crore operating cash in FY26 (Rs.23.64 crore in FY25 too), funding the gap entirely through fresh equity, convertible debentures, and a director loan. Actual cash in the bank at year-end was just Rs.2.39 crore.
Debt is genuinely low (D/E of 0.09), customer concentration improved sharply (top customer down from 38% to 7.77% of revenue).
At an indicative unlisted price of Rs.441 as of September 19, 2026 (Source: Stockify), Garuda trades at roughly 88-90x FY26 earnings and 60x EV/EBITDA.
Growth Story for Garuda Aerospace- With Two Different Endings
Garuda Aerospace Limited, the Chennai-based, MS Dhoni-backed drone technology company, has released its FY26 Annual Report (year ended March 31, 2026)-its first set of financials prepared under Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS), ahead of a planned Rs.1,000-crore IPO. Read the profit and loss statement alone, and the story looks excellent: revenue up 67%, profit up 41%, defence contracts flowing in, and customer concentration falling sharply.
But if we read the balance sheet and cash flow statement, a very different picture emerges, one of ballooning receivables, two straight years of negative operating cash flow, and a company effectively financing its own growth through investor capital rather than customer cash.
Two Revenue Engines- Garuda Aerospace FY26 Results
Garuda's business runs on two roughly equal halves:
Product sales, agri drones, survey and mapping platforms, inspection systems, surveillance drones, logistics platforms, and defence systems, brought in Rs.99.4 crore in FY26, or 48% of revenue.
Drone-as-a-Service (DaaS), where Garuda deploys its own fleet and pilots and simply hands over the data, brought in Rs.106.5 crore, or 52%, services have now overtaken product sales for the first time.
The company also runs six broad verticals: agriculture, defence and homeland security, industrial and infrastructure, DaaS, software and data intelligence, and training/skilling through its DGCA-approved Remote Pilot Training Organisation (RPTO) network.
Notably, Garuda holds dual DGCA approval for both manufacturing and training, a regulatory edge the company claims makes it the first Indian drone company to have it, letting it run BVLOS and government/defence missions without third-party dependence.
One inconsistency worth flagging: the Annual Report is themed "Indigenous Innovation, Global Impact" and claims a presence in 16 countries, but the Ind AS geographic disclosure shows export revenue of zero in Garuda Aerospace FY26 results (and just Rs.3.9 lakh in FY25).
Profit & Loss: Growth Up, Margins Down
(All figures in Rs. crore, converted from the Annual Report's Rs. million disclosures.)
Particulars | FY 26 | FY25 | Change |
Revenue from operations | 205.96 | 123.46 | +67% |
Cost of materials consumed | 116.82 | 72.32 | +62% |
Employee benefit expenses | 8.02 | 9.55 | -16% |
Other expenses | 29.21 | 29.13 | Flat |
Impairment on financial assets | 11.13 | 0.07 | ~170x |
Depreciation & amortisation | 4.08 | 3.60 | +13% |
Finance costs | 1.04 | 1.23 | -15% |
Profit before tax (PBT) | 34.06 | 25.41 | +34% |
Tax expense | 8.15 | 7.04 | +16% |
Profit after tax (PAT) | 25.92 | 18.37 | +41% |
Basic EPS (Rs.) | 4.99 | 3.67 | +36% |
Revenue growth of 67% alongside 41% profit growth looks like a textbook scale-up. But EBITDA margin tells a different story: it fell to 18.9% in FY26 from 23.4% in FY25, the opposite of the operating leverage a company at this growth stage would normally show. Much of this compression traces to the Rs.11.13 crore impairment charge booked against ageing receivables.
A second detail stands out: employee benefit expenses fell 16% even as revenue grew 67%. With a reported headcount of 200-plus, that implies roughly Rs.3.5 lakh per person annually, unusually low for a company positioning itself as a deep-tech player. The explanation surfaces in the notes: "outsourced contract cost" of Rs.51.87 crore, or 25% of revenue, meaning a large share of manufacturing and service delivery is handled by third parties rather than in-house staff. It's also worth noting FY25 revenue included a Rs.5.78 crore PLI (Production Linked Incentive) subsidy that did not recur in FY26.
Balance Sheet: Clean Debt But Dirty Receivables
Particulars | March 2026 | March 2025 |
Trade receivables | 234.40 | 111.95 |
Inventories | 34.27 | 24.59 |
Cash & cash equivalents | 2.39 | 0.95 |
Property, plant & equipment | 17.98 | 15.17 |
Right-of-use assets | 7.37 | 0.11 |
Total assets | 359.62 | 209.03 |
Net worth | 239.84 | 165.59 |
Borrowings (all current) | 22.27 | 6.71 |
Trade payables | 64.55 | 25.82 |
Debt/Equity ratio | 0.09 | 0.04 |
All figures in Rs. Crore.
The debt picture is genuinely clean, a debt-to-equity ratio of just 0.09. But the one line that reframes the entire report is trade receivables of Rs.234.4 crore, which exceeds the company's full Rs.206 crore of annual revenue. That works out to roughly 415 debtor days (431 on gross receivables before provisions).
Cash Flow Status: Where the Story Turns
Particulars | FY 26 | FY 25 |
Operating cash before working capital changes | 50.34 | 30.23 |
Increase in trade receivables | (133.56) | (20.05) |
Increase in trade payables | 38.73 | 10.69 |
Taxes paid | (6.62) | (2.89) |
Cash from operations (CFO) | (41.55) | 23.64 |
Capital expenditure | (13.31) | (15.30) |
Cash from investing activities | (19.46) | (15.93) |
Equity + preference share issuance | 17.74 | 47.14 |
Convertible debenture (CCD) issuance | 31.47 | 3.52 |
Unsecured borrowings | 10.83 | - |
Cash from financing activities | 51.46 | 30.72 |
Net change in cash | (9.54) | (8.86) |
All figures in Rs. Crore.
Garuda earned Rs.25.92 crore of profit in FY26 but burned Rs.41.55 crore of operating cash in FY 26, and cumulative operating cash flow across FY25 and FY26 stands at roughly negative Rs.65.2 crore.
After accounting for a Rs.10.98 crore bank overdraft with ICICI, the company's net cash position at year-end was actually negative Rs.8.59 crore, with just Rs.2.39 crore sitting in the bank.
Valuation: What Does Rs.438 Buy You?
Garuda's indicative unlisted share price stood at Rs.441 as of September 19, 2026 (Source: Stockify), implying a market capitalisation of roughly Rs.2,321 crore.
Metric | Value |
Market capitalisation | ~Rs.2,320 crore |
P/E (FY26 EPS Rs.4.99) | ~88–90x |
Price/Sales | ~11.3x |
Price/Book (BVPS Rs.45.3) | ~9.7x |
EV/EBITDA | ~60x (~47x adjusted for impairment) |
Return on Equity | 12.78% |
Return on Capital Employed | 13.61% |
Conclusion
Garuda Aerospace FY26 results tell two stories that pull in opposite directions. The profit-and-loss statement shows a company growing fast, diversifying into defence, and sharply reducing its dependence on any single customer.
The balance sheet and cash flow statement show a company where growth is being recognised on paper faster than it's being collected in cash, 415 debtor days, a fully overdue receivables book, and two consecutive years of cash burn funded almost entirely by fresh investor capital.
Both are true simultaneously, and both matter for anyone evaluating Garuda ahead of its planned public listing. The market, currently pricing the stock near 88-90 times earnings, appears to be betting heavily on the first story. Whether that bet pays off will depend on something the P&L can't show: how quickly Garuda actually collects the Rs.234 crore it says it's owed.
FAQs
What was Garuda Aerospace's revenue and profit in FY26?
Garuda Aerospace’s revenue from operations zoomed 67% to Rs.205.96 crore in FY26 from Rs.123.46 crore in FY25, while its net profit (PAT) jumped 41% to Rs.25.92 crore from Rs.18.37 crore, according to its audited Ind AS financial statements.
Why does the EBITDA margin of Garuda Aerospace decline despite an increase in revenue?
EBITDA margin declined to 18.9% in FY26 from 23.4% in FY25 mainly due to an impairment charge of Rs.11.13 crore on aging trade receivables (a jump of around 170x from the Rs.0.07 crore impairment in FY25).
Why are Garuda Aerospace's trade receivables considered a red flag?
Trade receivables stood at Rs.234.4 crore at the end of FY26, which is higher than the entire revenue of the company in a year. This is the equivalent of some 415 debtor days. The “Not Due” bucket in the ageing schedule is shown as zero, which would mean that every rupee due to the company was overdue.
Did Garuda Aerospace generate positive cash flow in FY26?
Not at all. The company posted cash flow from operations of negative Rs 41.55 crore in FY26 (April 01 to March 31) against Rs 23.64 crore in FY25. Equity issue, convertible debentures and director loan filled the gap. At the year end, there was a mere Rs.2.39 crore of actual cash in the bank.
Is Garuda Aerospace's debt level a concern?
No, that’s one of the good parts of the report. The debt-to-equity ratio stood at just 0.09 as of March 2026, and the company has no history of loan defaults or wilful-defaulter status.
What did the auditor say about the financial statements of Garuda Aerospace?
The statutory auditors S R B R & Associates LLP gave a clean, un-qualified opinion on both the financial statements and internal financial controls. The only Emphasis of Matter paragraph relates to the routine first-time transition to Ind AS.
Does Garuda Aerospace generate any revenue from exports?
No. Despite claiming a presence in 16 countries, the company's Ind AS geographic disclosures show zero export revenue in FY26 and just Rs.3.9 lakh in FY25, it remains effectively a 100% domestic revenue business.
