JULY 20249UTTAR PRADESH & MAKEMYTRIP TO JOINTLY PROMOTE STATE TOURISMOPTIEMUS INFRACOM INVESTS RS.140 CRORE IN ITS DRONE-AS-A-SERVICE SUBSIDIARYThe Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MakeMyTrip on Friday to promote tourism in the state. The collaboration aims to facilitate tourists and enhance tourism in Uttar Pradesh. As part of the MoU, MakeMyTrip will serve as a strategic partner, providing valuable insights into consumer trends, tourist preferences, and supply-side information. This data will help the department in future policy-making, according to the company's press release.Mukesh Kumar Meshram, Principal Secretary of the Department of Tourism and Culture in Uttar Pradesh, emphasized the state's vast tourism potential and the role of MakeMyTrip in realizing it. He noted that travelers often search for various information online before and during their trips, such as eco-tourism, adventure tourism, and spiritual tourism. Tourism and Culture Minister Jaiveer Singh remarked that Uttar Pradesh offers a wealth of diverse experiences and that the partnership with MakeMyTrip would be a milestone in enhancing tourism. He expressed optimism that leveraging MakeMyTrip's platform and expertise would help create effective future plans based on travelers' preferences, thereby welcoming more visitors to the state.Rajesh Magow, Co-founder and Group CEO of MakeMyTrip expressed delight at the strategic partnership with UP Tourism. He highlighted the goal of collaborating with UP Tourism to leverage the depth of hotel and homestay options available on MakeMyTrip's platform. Magow believes this unique public-private sector collaboration will help achieve shared objectives and significantly boost tourism in Uttar Pradesh. Optiemus Infracom, a domestic wearables and telecom equipment manufacturer, announced plans to invest around Rs 140 crore in a drone-as-a-service model through its subsidiary, Optiemus Unmanned Systems (OUS). This investment aims to achieve a revenue target of Rs 600-900 crore by the end of 2025.Founded in 2023 with an initial investment of Rs 25 crore, OUS recently unveiled a range of drones designed for agricultural and mapping applications. The company intends to adopt a service model for its drone business, training 6,000 pilots to manage a fleet of 5,000 drones by the end of 2025.Ashok Kumar Gupta, Chairman of Optiemus Infracom, emphasized the unique business model based on extensive ground-level research that identified issues such as operational know-how and spare parts scarcity. He highlighted the significant potential of the drone business, particularly in agricultural and defense sectors, and expressed confidence in leveraging their expertise to offer cost-effective and efficient solutions.OUS aims to achieve a minimum of 65 percent local value addition in its drones, with plans to increase this to 75 percent by the end of the current fiscal year. The company has already indigenized various components, including the power distribution board, anti-spark switch, flight controller, airframe, and motor.
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