VISAKHAPATNAM: Success, for many, is often measured by wealth, rapid expansion, and luxury. But for 26-year-old aeronautical engineer Yogesh Komara from Visakhapatnam, success is about purpose, resilience, and helping others grow alongside him.
What began in a stifling, single-room shed with limited resources has today grown into Akshaya Aerospace, a venture developing specialised drones for defence, agriculture, surveillance, and industrial applications. Despite building more than 420 drones, Yogesh to remain grounded in the values that shaped his journey.
In the early days, he spent long hours assembling drones in a room without even a fan. “The shed initially didn’t have a fan, and summers were extremely hot,” Yogesh recalls. “When I started earning, I bought a fan and later installed an air conditioner. But I realised comfort was making me lazy and distracting me from work. Within a month, I removed the AC and focused entirely on the drones.”
The experience, he notes, changed his outlook on life. “I understood that excess is not always necessary. Social media often glorifies expensive lifestyles, vehicles, and accessories, but I believe money should help bring out creativity and strength in others. That is what truly matters.”
That philosophy now drives the culture at Akshaya Aerospace. The company currently employs around 13 to 14 young people. “They came with interest and the willingness to learn. Today, some of them are building and selling their own drones, including agricultural drones. I believe real service is helping people become skilled and self-reliant,” he says.
Yogesh’s work eventually caught the attention of the defence sector. During Operation Sindoor, he was approached to assist in the development of kamikaze drones for the Indian Army. “A person I knew from Dehradun called and asked if I was interested in working on kamikaze drones for the Army. I left for Dehradun that same evening. It was a completely different experience,” he recalls.
Today, he also manufactures drones for the Indian Navy in Visakhapatnam and trains officers in drone operation and maintenance. His younger brother, 24-year-old Ashwin Komara, left his corporate software job to join the venture and now handles the software side of the drones.
Under Akshaya Aerospace, the brothers have built a wide range of drones for different applications. Their portfolio includes 39 agricultural drones used for seed spreading and pesticide spraying, 24 kamikaze drones, 9 waterproof drones designed for marine and all-weather use, 63 FPV drones, 21 survey and mapping drones, 3 food delivery drones, 17 tethered drones for long-duration surveillance, 58 optical fibre drones designed for anti-jamming operations, 43 inspection drones for infrastructure monitoring. and commercial purposes.
Apart from defence applications, Yogesh has also supplied drones to police stations across North Coastal Andhra, as well as to the forest department, Greyhounds, and OCTOPUS units.
Yet, his most ambitious idea is still in progress, an air taxi with a humanitarian purpose. Inspired by frequent drowning incidents along Visakhapatnam’s coastline, Yogesh wants to develop an aerial rescue system capable of saving lives during emergencies.
“People often get caught in rip currents and are swept away into the sea,” he explains. “My idea is to build an air taxi that can identify a person in distress, lift them from the water, and bring them safely back to the shore where medical teams can respond immediately. In such situations, faster rescue could improve survival chances,” he adds.
“Support must always be genuine and driven by a cause, rather than transactional or greedy. I would rather work my way up and remain self-sustaining than rely on compromises that dilute my core beliefs,” he notes.