Methodology, data caveats & who we are

Methodology

This primer follows Dart Consultants' standard first-principles method: identify the one real structural asymmetry inside the product (§2), derive the value ladder and moat mechanism from it (§4-5), then apply that framework to the listed companies (§9-11). Research was conducted via public sources only — company filings and investor presentations, credit-rating-agency press releases (CRISIL, ICRA, India Ratings), stock-exchange disclosures, company websites, primary OEM/press releases (Boeing, Airbus, Safran, Tata, Airbus India), Indian government sources (PIB, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Commerce), and market-research summaries, in that order of preference. All web research was conducted in September 2026; company financials and stock data are dated individually throughout.

Data caveats

• Constructed/indicative figures are labelled as such in every caption where used — specifically the value-split (§3), build-to-print vs. risk-sharing step counts (§4), the value-ladder margins (§5), and the India A&D segment-mix donut (§6). These illustrate a structural relationship; they are not measured from a disclosed cost model for any specific company.
• Derived figures are marked with a tilde (~) and explained in the source line.
• Undisclosed figures are shown as a dash, never estimated into a table.
• Market-size and market-cap disagreements are shown as ranges or multiple bars rather than resolved to a single number — see §6's dispersion chart and the company-scale chart in §9.
• We do not model full balance sheets or cash-flow statements for companies that do not disclose at that granularity; company reports use a "selected disclosed metrics" format instead.
• Two source-document claims from the original brief for this report were corrected during research: the C295 programme's "~14,000 total parts / 33 MSME suppliers" sub-claims could not be independently verified (the confirmed figures are 13,000 detail parts, 37 suppliers, 21 special processes); and "100% FDI" in aerospace is accurate specifically for MRO services, while broader defence-linked manufacturing FDI is capped at 74% automatic-route / up to 100% via government approval.
• Several company-level stock-data points (market capitalisation, P/E) showed material disagreement between data aggregators for the same company on the same date, most notably for Bharat Forge, PTC Industries, Dynamatic Technologies, Raymond and Sigma Advanced Systems. These are flagged in the relevant company report rather than silently reconciled.

About Us

Dart Consultants is a market intelligence and technology service provider. We are not a SEBI-registered Investment Adviser or Research Analyst. This document, and the company reports that follow it, are educational material only — not investment advice, and not a recommendation to buy or sell any stock. BUY/HOLD/SELL labels used in this series are an educational device for summarising publicly available information, not a regulated recommendation. The analyst(s) preparing this report hold no position in, and have no banking, advisory or brokerage relationship with, any company named in it, and have received no compensation from any of them. Several companies in this report are recent listings (Aequs, December 2025; Sigma Advanced Systems, February 2026 via reverse merger; Unimech Aerospace, December 2024; Belrise Industries' aerospace exposure, March 2026) with correspondingly short public track records and, in some cases, elevated valuation and disclosure risk — readers should treat these names as carrying above-average risk pending a longer track record, independent of this report's eventual rating.