Making of India's drone economy

BotLab Dynamics -- a start-up incubated at IIT Delhi -- put up a 10-minute drone show on January 29 during the culmination of Republic Day celebrations. The humming of 1,000 drones, and their formations into shapes of globe, ‘Make-in-India’ lion, the National War Memorial and Mahatma Gandhi left the audience in awe.

Only the US, Russia and China have the capability to put together such a show with 1,000 drones. Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh took pride in the fact that the project was developed indigenously.  

The drone show gave a glimpse of the things to come, as the government aims to make India a global drone hub by 2030. Just 11 days after the show, import of drones was stopped to give fillip to the domestic manufacturing. 

India currently imports most of its drones and components, particularly from China. China’s DJI Technology is the world’s largest drone maker. 

Except for research and development and for defence and security purposes, import of drone for any other purpose will need government permission now. Import of drone components will still be allowed.

This move comes after the easing of rules for registration and operation of drones in the country. And also after the announcement of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme worth Rs 120 crore to boost the manufacturing of drones in the country. This amount is nearly double the combined turnover of all domestic drone manufacturers in FY21. 

Sectors where drones can be employed are endless. These include photography, agriculture, mining, telecom, insurance, telecom, oil & gas, construction, transport, disaster management, geo-spatial mapping, forest and wildlife, defence and law enforcement to name a few. 

The relaxed Drone Rules released last August abolished several permissions and approvals. The number of forms that need to be filled was reduced from 25 to five and the types of fee brought down from 72 to 4. 

No permission is required for operating drones in green zones and no remote pilot licence is necessary for non-commercial use of micro and nano drones. Payloads up to 500kg have been allowed so the drones can be used as unmanned flying taxis. Further, foreign ownership of companies operating drones has also been permitted.

In September 2021, the DGCA launched an interactive airspace map to help drone operators check for no-fly zones or where they need to undergo certain formalities before flying a drone. 

The government expects the drone manufacturing industry to invest over Rs 5,000 crore over the next three years and generate 10,000 direct jobs. By FY24, it estimates the turnover of the drone manufacturing industry to grow to Rs 900 crore from Rs 60 crore now. 

In the Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government will encourage startups to facilitate Drone-as-a-service (draas). 

Drone-as-a-service allows enterprises to avail various services from drone companies, removing the need for them to invest in drone hardware or software, pilots, and training programmes. 

The drone services industry is expected to grow to over Rs 30,000 crore in next three years and generate over five lakh jobs, according to the government.

Drone-related courses for skilling will be started at select Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in all states  

The Centre will also promote the use of ‘Kisan Drones’ for crop assessment, digitization of land records and spraying of insecticides.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said in September last year that the Indian drone industry will have a total turnover of up to Rs 15,000 crore by 2026. At that time, Indian drone manufacturing companies had a turnover of approximately Rs 80 crore.

With a series of these measures, the government hopes to build not just drone manufacturing but has also placed an emphasis on the nascent drone services sector.