Drone service sector will provide one lakh jobs in 4-5 years: Scindia

The drone service sector holds tremendous promise and will provide about one lakh jobs in the next four-five years, Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Friday.

"We took out a productivity-linked scheme for the drone sector where a nascent industry of drone manufacturing -- which had a total revenue of Rs 60 crore -- was given an incentive of Rs 120 crore over the next three years," the minister said in his speech at an event organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC).

Under the PLI scheme that was announced last year, 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 is 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.

The ministry has released the names of 14 drone companies selected as beneficiaries of the PLI scheme.

Scindia said on Friday, "We look at a rapid expansion of almost Rs 5,000 crore in terms of investment into the drone manufacturing space."

"The drone service sector...we are looking at the creation of 1,00,000 jobs over the next four-five years. It is an area of tremendous promise," he added.

India is undergoing rapid urbanisation and 75 per cent of our national income is going to come from cities by 2031, he said, adding

transport and logistics will be playing a pivotal role in deciding India's destiny in the coming decade.

The country, he said, has roughly 140 airports right now and the government plans to increase them by 50 per cent in the next four-five years.

The country will increase its commercial fleet size from 710 planes currently to 1,200 aircraft in the coming five years, he mentioned.

The government is also looking to rapidly expanding its flying training organisations and will increase their numbers from 34 to 58 in the coming few years, he said.

The global aircraft component industry is going leaps and bounds in India, he said.

Boeing is currently importing aircraft components worth USD 1 billion (one billion =10,000 lakhs) from India and Airbus is currently importing aircraft components worth around USD 650 million from India, he said.