US-returned entrepreneur makes it big in defence sector

Hyderabad: An aerospace manufacturing company SKM Technologies is being helmed by a 43-year-old US returned woman entrepreneur Sarita Rathibandla. The MD of the company left her well-settled life in the United States to fulfill her passion of entrepreneurship. She came to India in 2019 with the support of her husband and two daughters – who […]

Hyderabad: An aerospace manufacturing company SKM Technologies is being helmed by a 43-year-old US returned woman entrepreneur Sarita Rathibandla. The MD of the company left her well-settled life in the United States to fulfill her passion of entrepreneurship. She came to India in 2019 with the support of her husband and two daughters – who still reside in the US.

Rathibandla is probably the only woman entrepreneur in the aerospace engineering, defence and missile manufacturing sector. SKM Technologies is a manufacturer of high precision components and assemblies for companies such as Rafael, Pratt & Whitney, Dedienne Aerospace, Dassault Aviation, Magellan Aerospace Corporation, Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, DRDO, BDL and among many others.

The mechanical engineering graduate quickly understood this space and acquired a company SKM Technologies which was based in Gandhinagar after she came to know the financial difficulties the company was going through. Now, the company has built a new plant in the Aerospace Park at Adibatla on three acres of land and has 70,000 sq ft built-up area. She has invested Rs 45 crore for the new facility and has acquired another plant called NeoGen.

“I have seen my father GR Surya Raj, chairman of Dynamic Tools, who is a technocrat in designing and developing industrial components work hard. My father was looking forward to expanding in this space and that is when we found SKM Technologies which was struggling financially. We took over it and revived it,” she says.

Currently, the new facility gives employment to 70 people and another facility NeoGen at Shamirpet employs 20 people. Presently, SKM Technologies has Rs 9 crore as turnover and this year it is aiming for Rs 30 crore.

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