Over dozen central ministries are working on using drone technology in their respective fields.
The increasing use of drones is expected to generate demand for 100,000 drone pilot (operators) over the next few years, said the Union Civil Aviation Minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia, on Tuesday.
Drone manufacturing hub
According to him, the Indian drone industry is expected to see a turnover of ₹15,000 crore by 2026 and the country has the chance of emerging as a global drone-manufacturing hub by 2030.
“We are taking the drone sector forward on three wheels. The first wheel is of policy, the second being to create incentives; while the third wheel is to create generate. You have seen how fast we were implementing the policy,” Scindia said at a NITI Aayog event.
Incentives came in the form of PLI while generation of demand is being done through the government ministries.
PLI expedited
The first batch of applications for the PLI scheme was invited on March 10 and the results were announced on April 20, wherein there were 14 beneficiaries which include Adani Group’s joint venture company with Israeli firm Elbit.
The civil aviation ministry invited the second batch of applications for the scheme on May 5.
“Today, someone who has passed the Class-12 exam can be trained as a drone pilot and no college degrees are required for it. With two-three months of training, this person can earn a monthly salary of around ₹30,000,” the minister added.