RIL sets its drone biz plan in motion, looks to become a key player

Looks to become a key player by the end of the decade

Reliance Industries has put together an aggressive plan to build its drone business which includes expanding manufacturing capacity five-fold, participating in the new drone production linked incentive scheme, and experimenting with limited logistics payloads to deliver goods.

The target is to become a key player in the expected $5 billion market in India by the end of the decade.

The drone business is being carried out through a Bangalore-based start up, Asteria Aerospace, in which Reliance has taken a majority stake. Asteria is a subsidiary of Jio Platforms Ltd.

Neel Mehta, co-founder of Asteria, has an upbeat assessment of the global and Indian