DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations shares crashed 20% on Tuesday, continuing their sharp decline for the second straight session as the stock once again hit the lower circuit within minutes of market opening. The selling pressure intensified after the company, its promoters, and associated entities were penalised and barred by SEBI for serious violations involving misutilisation of IPO proceeds, fraudulent corporate disclosures, and misleading financial reporting.
The BSE-listed SME stock had already fallen sharply on Monday after SEBI’s enforcement order released on Friday triggered panic among investors. On Tuesday, the stock price opened weak at Rs 36.31 and immediately touched the 20% lower circuit, signalling sustained bearish sentiment.
According to SEBI’s 105-page order, DroneAcharya and its promoters — Prateek Srivastava and Nikita Srivastava — were found guilty of diverting IPO funds, inflating revenues and profits, and issuing misleading announcements to artificially maintain share prices, allowing pre-IPO investors to exit at favourable valuations.
SEBI imposed penalties totalling Rs 75 lakh, which include:
- Rs 20 lakh each on promoter & MD Prateek Srivastava and promoter & CFO Nikita Srivastava
- Rs 10 lakh each on DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations Ltd (DAIL), Instafin Financial Advisors LLP, and Sandeep Ghate
- Rs 5 lakh on Micro Infratech Pvt Ltd
The regulator also noted that the company had misrepresented financials by booking inflated income from Triconix and IRed, failed to disclose deviations in IPO fund usage, and issued incorrect statements in its prospectus.
Following these findings, SEBI has barred DroneAcharya, its promoters, and key associated entities from accessing the securities market for up to two years. Micro Infratech faces a one-year ban.
DroneAcharya had raised Rs 33.96 crore through its IPO and was listed on the BSE SME platform on December 23, 2022. The regulator said the company deviated from its IPO objectives without shareholder approval and issued misleading disclosures to boost investor interest.
The severe regulatory action and allegations of financial manipulation have triggered intense selling, leading the stock into multiple consecutive lower circuits.
