India's drone industry turnover to be Rs 15,000 cr by 2026: Scindia states roadmaps

The Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said that the Indian drone industry will have a total turnover of up to ₹15,000 crore by 2026. Scindia further said that this will be possible because the government has given a major boost to the civil aviation sector with the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme announced on Wednesday and due to the liberalised rules implemented last month. 

Earlier on Wednesday, the Civil Aviation Ministry had approved a PLI scheme for drones and their components with an allocation of Rs 120 crore spread over three financial years. Notably, this PLI scheme comes as a follow-through of the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021, released by the Centre on August 25. 

Scindia on Indian Drone Industry

While addressing the press briefing on the drone industry's turnover, the Civil Aviation Minister said, "With Drone Policy (Rules) and Drone PLI scheme, we have an aim that drone manufacturing companies in India should reach a turnover of Rs 900 crore in the coming three years."

Scindia also mentioned that as of now, the Indian drone industry turnover is approximately Rs 80 crore. Stating that the three parts of the entire value chain in the drone sector are hardware (drone manufacturer), software and service delivery, he said, "If you combine turnover of all three parts of the drone sector, it is our estimate that by 2026, it will stand at USD 1.8 billion." This means that this industry will have a turnover of approximately Rs 12,000-Rs 15,000 crores by then," the Aviation Minister added.

Under the PLI scheme, the incentive for a manufacturer of drones and drone components will be 20 per cent of the value addition made by the company during the next three years. As per this scheme, "The value addition should be calculated as the annual sales revenue from drones and their components (net of GST) minus the purchase cost (net of GST) of drone and drone components."

Aviation Ministry allows usage of drones for vaccine delivery

The Civil Aviation Ministry on September 13 had informed that it has granted conditional permission to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to use drones in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Manipur and Nagaland to deliver COVID-19 vaccines beyond the visual line of sight. The statement by Civil Aviation Ministry read, "The ICMR has been permitted to use drones up to a height of 3,000 metres to deliver vaccines."

This latest development comes after Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia launched the first of its kind of 'Medicines from the Sky' project at Vikarabad in Telangana under which, drugs and vaccines will be delivered using drones. 

(Image: PTI, Twitter/@JM_Scindia)