Last September, the Indian government had formally approved the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drones and drone components
And after five months of that, the government has now invited applications from the drone industry for the sector's PLI scheme.
The total incentive in the scheme is Rs 120 crore spread over three financial years, and the sum is nearly double the combined turnover of all domestic drone manufacturers in FY 2020-21.
The government expects the new rules and the incentive scheme for the drones and drone components manufacturing industry to see an investment of over Rs 5,000 crore over the next three years.
The PLI scheme comes as a follow-through of the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021 released in August 2021. The PLI scheme and new drone rules are intended to catalyse growth in the drone sector.
The PLI scheme will be extended or redrafted after studying its impact in consultation with the industry, government said.
India, 'a potential global drone hub by 2030'
Under the PLI scheme, the incentive for a manufacturer of drones and drone components will be 20% of the 'value addition' made by the company during the next three years. The value addition is calculated as the annual sales revenue from drones and drone components.
The deadline for submission of application form is March 31, 2022.
Given its traditional strengths in innovation, information technology, frugal engineering and its huge domestic demand, India has the potential of becoming a global drone hub by 2030, the government feels.
In the government's estimates the annual sales turnover of the drone manufacturing industry may grow from Rs 60 crore in 2020-21 to over Rs 900 crore in FY 2023-24. The drone manufacturing industry is expected to generate over 10,000 direct jobs over the next three years.
The drone services industry (operations, logistics, data processing, traffic management etc.) is far bigger in scale. It is expected to grow to over Rs 30,000 crore in next three years. The drone services industry is expected to generate over five lakh jobs in three years, the government had said.
It has also clarified that the list of eligible components may be expanded by the government from time to time, as the drone technology evolves. The Government has also agreed to widen the coverage of the incentive scheme to include developers of drone-related IT products also.
