Govt releases list of 23 beneficiaries under PLI scheme for drones

The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Wednesday released the second provisional list of 23 beneficiaries under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for promoting the manufacturing of drones and drone components in the country. The list released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation includes 12 drone manufacturers and 11 drone component manufacturers.

The companies that have been shortlisted for incentives under the drone manufacturers category include, Aarav Unmanned Systems Asteria Aerospace, and Throttle Aerospace Systems from Bengaluru, Karnataka; Dhaksha Unmanned Systems and Garuda Aerospace from Chennai, Tamil Nadu; EndureAir Systems and Raphe Mphibr from Noida, Uttar Pradesh; Ideaforge Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra; IoTechWorld Avigation and Omnipresent Robot Technologies from Gurugram, Haryana; and Sagar Defence Engineering, Pune, Maharashtra.

The companies shortlisted for incentives under the drone component manufacturers category include Absolute Composites, Bengaluru, Karnataka; Adani-Elbit Advanced Systems India, Hyderabad, Telangana; Adroitec Information Systems, New Delhi; Alpha Design Technologies, Bengaluru, Karnataka; Dynamake Engineering, Hyderabad, Telangana; Imaginarium Rapid, Mumbai, Maharashtra; SASMOS HET Technologies, Bengaluru, Karnataka; Servocontrols Aerospace India, Belagavi, Karnataka; Valdel Advanced Technologies, Bengaluru, Karnataka; ZMotion Autonomous Systems, Bengaluru, Karnataka; and Zuppa Geo Navigation Technologies, Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

The Ministry invited applications from eligible manufacturers on May 4, 2022 and the last date for submission was May 20, 2022. "The provisional list of PLI beneficiaries has been prepared on the basis of the unaudited financial results for 2021-22 and other information. The shortlisted beneficiaries have crossed the eligibility criteria related to sales revenue and value addition in FY 2021-22," the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement.

The combined annual sales turnover of the shortlisted companies has increased from Rs 88 crore in FY 2020-21 to Rs 319 crore (unaudited) in FY 2021-22. The eligibility criteria for the PLI scheme for drones and drone components include an annual sales turnover of Rs 2 crore for drone companies and Rs 50 lakh for drone components manufacturers; and value addition of over 40 per cent of sales turnover.

The PLI scheme for drones and drone components was notified on September 30, 2021. Under the scheme, a total incentive of Rs 120 crore is spread over three financial years which is nearly double the combined turnover of all domestic drone manufacturers in FY 2020-21. The PLI rate is 20 per cent of the value addition which is one of the highest among other PLI schemes. A unique feature of the drone PLI scheme is that the manufacturers who fail to meet the value addition threshold in 2021-22 will be allowed to claim the lost incentive in the subsequent year if they make up the shortfall in 2022-23.

Apart from the PLI Scheme, the Government of India has carried a series of reforms to make India a global drone hub by 2030. These include notification of the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021; publishing of Drone Airspace Map 2021 which opens nearly 90 per cent of Indian airspace as a green zone upto 400 feet, UAS Traffic Management (UTM) policy framework 2021; Drone Certification Scheme 2022 which makes it easier for drone manufacturers to obtain a type certificate; Drone Import Policy, 2022 which bans import of foreign-made drones; and the Drone (Amendment) Rules, 2022 which abolishes the requirement of a drone pilot licence for drone operations.