India will need around 100,000 drone pilots in coming years: Scindia

The central government's 12 ministries are currently trying to boost the indigenous demand for drone services and India will need approximately one lakh drone pilots in the coming years, Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Tuesday.

"We are taking the drone sector forward on three wheels. The first wheel is of policy. You have seen how fast we are implementing the policy," Scindia said at a Niti Aayog event.

The second wheel is to create incentives, he said.

"The PLI (production linked incentive) scheme, which has been implemented under the leadership of Prime Minister, will give fresh boost to manufacturing and services in drone sector," he added.

The PLI scheme came in September 2021 as a follow-through of the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021, released by the ministry on August 25, 2021.

Scindia said the third wheel is to create indigenous demand and the 12 ministries of the central government have tried to create this demand.

Today, a drone pilot can be trained by being a 12th class pass, no college degrees are required, he said.

"With 2-3 months of training, this person is in his or her job as a drone pilots with around Rs 30,000 per month salary," he noted.

"We need close to a lakh drone pilots in the years to come. So the opportunity is tremendous," he stated.

Scindia had on September 16 last year said that the Indian drone industry will have a total turnover of up to Rs 15,000 crore by 2026.