The Civil Aviation Ministry has disbursed nearly Rs 30 crore to 23 beneficiaries during FY 2022-23 under the PLI scheme for manufacturing drones and drone components, it said in a statement. A provisional list of 23 PLI beneficiaries was released on 6th July 2022; this includes 12 drone manufacturers and 11 drone component manufacturers.
The government had notified the PLI scheme for drones and drone components on 30th September 2021. The scheme has features including a total incentive of Rs 120 core spread over three financial years, which is nearly double the combined turnover of all domestic drone manufacturers in FY 2020-21. Also, the PLI rate for this scheme is 20 per cent of the value addition, which is the highest among PLI schemes and this rate is kept constant at 20 per cent for all three years.
Also, the eligibility norm for MSMEs and startups is at nominal levels. The coverage includes developers of drone-related software as well. Under this, the value addition is calculated as the annual sales revenue from drones and drone components minus the purchase cost of drone and drone components.
The Union Budget 2022 had pushed for promotion of drones through startups and skilling at Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said, “Startups will be promoted to facilitate ‘Drone Shakti’ through varied applications and for Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS).” Further, in the Union Budget 2023 speech as well, the finance minister had said that lakhs of youngsters will be trained in the next three years in subjects such as drones, artificial intelligence, coding and other soft skills under the Pradhan Mantri Kausal Vikas Yojana 4.0.
The government had approved the PLI scheme for the sector in 2021 with a vision towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat. The civil aviation ministry had said, “Drones offer tremendous benefits to almost all sectors of the economy. These include– agriculture, mining, infrastructure, surveillance, emergency response, transportation, geo-spatial mapping, defence, and law enforcement to name a few.” It had also maintained that India has the potential of becoming a global drone hub by 2030.
The PLI scheme had come as a follow-through of the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021. With this incentive scheme, the drones and drone components manufacturing industry may see an investment of over Rs 5,000 crore over the next three years, the ministry had said then. The annual sales turnover of the drone manufacturing industry may grow from Rs 60 crore in 2020-21 fold to over Rs 900 crore in FY 2023-24, it had added.