Reliance Industries is getting into drones with its new purchase

Reliance Industries on Friday said its wholly-owned subsidiary Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Ltd (RSBVL) has acquired over 51 per cent stake in Asteria Aerospace for Rs 23.12 crore. "RSBVL has acquired equity shares of Asteria Aerospace for a cash consideration of Rs 23,12,49,584. The said investment represents 51.78 per cent holding in the equity share capital of Asteria," Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said in a BSE filing.

The investment will further enable the group's initiatives in emerging technology, it added.

RSBVL proposes to make a further investment of up to Rs 125 crore, subject to Asteria achieving agreed milestones, and is expected to be completed by December 2021, it said.

"Post the further investment, the shareholding of RSBVL will increase to 87.3 per cent of the equity share capital of Asteria," it added.

On Thursday, RSBVL had said it has picked up 85 per cent stake in NowFloats Technologies for a cash consideration of Rs 141.63 crore.

Asteria, incorporated in India in June 2011, is a full-stack drone technology company with in-house drone manufacturing capabilities, and also offers software solutions to provide actionable insights from aerial data, intending to deliver "drone-as-a-service" digital platform.

An early stage company, Asteria had a turnover of Rs 1.96 crore in 2018-19. SR RVK