Drone industry will have turnover of up to Rs 15,000 cr by 2026: Scindia

The government has given a major boost to the sector with the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme announced on Wednesday: Scindia

The Indian drone industry will have a total turnover of up to Rs 15,000 crore by 2026 as the government has given a major boost to the sector with the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme announced on Wednesday and liberalised rules implemented last month, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Thursday.

The Civil Aviation Ministry on Wednesday approved a PLI scheme for drones and drone components with an allocation of Rs 120 crore spread over three financial years.

The PLI scheme comes as a follow-through of the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021, released by the Centre on August 25.

In the press briefing, Scindia said on Thursday, "With Drone Policy (Rules) and Drone PLI scheme, we have an aim that drone manufacturing companies in India should reach a turnover of Rs 900 crore in the coming three years."

Currently, Indian drone manufacturing companies have a turnover of approximately Rs 80 crore, he mentioned.

He said the three parts of the entire value chain in the drone sector are hardware (drone manufacturer), software and service delivery.

"If you combine turnover of all three parts of the drone sector, it is our estimate that by 2026, it will stand at USD 1.8 billion. This means that this industry will have a turnover of approximately Rs 12,000-Rs 15,000 crore by then," he stated.

Under the PLI scheme, the incentive for a manufacturer of drones and drone components will be 20 per cent of the value addition made by the company during the next three years.

The value addition should be calculated as the annual sales revenue from drones and drone components (net of GST) minus the purchase cost (net of GST) of drone and drone components, it stated.