Drones take the field in Indian agriculture as services expand for farmers

Driven by on-demand models, startups and government programmes are making the tech accessible and affordable for farmers

A revolution powered by precision, artificial intelligence, and data-driven insights is reshaping Indian agriculture, replacing heavy manual labour with tech-driven efficiency. Leading this wave is the “Uberisation of drones” — backed by startups and government policies — which allows farmers across the country to rent drones for farm operations via apps and portals as easily as booking a cab.

 

According to the Drone Federation of India (DFI) — which represents over 550 companies — players like Drogo Drones, Marut Drones, IoTechWorld, General Aeronautics, Drone Destination, and regional providers are building agriculture-focused drone networks and drone-as-a-service models. State governments are joining in too; in February, Andhra Pradesh became the first to let farmers book drone services online through its AP Drone Mart Portal, managed by the AP Drone Corporation.

 

The farm trend comes as India’s drone ecosystem is fast evolving, with 38,500 registered drones overall, more than 39,890 certified pilots and 244 approved training organisations.

 

Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, can either be operated autonomously using pre-programmed instructions or controlled by human operators. The global commercial drone market is growing at a rate of 16-17 per cent per annum, according to a PwC report.

 

Drone ambitions

 

This agricultural demand aligns with India’s goal to become a global drone manufacturing hub by 2030, a shift the report says will boost gross domestic product by 1-1.5 per cent and create at least 500,000 jobs.

 

Drones handle pesticide spraying, soil sampling, fertilising, livestock surveillance, real-time aerial imaging, and sensor data collection. AI-powered models further optimise operations, nutrient analysis, and crop yields by automating precision monitoring, field mapping and targeted spraying.

 

Beyond saving farmers time, these services optimise resource use, notably cutting water consumption. Dhaksha Drones, a leading manufacturer of drones, is integrating operations directly into a network of over 1,200 rural agri-retail stores run by its parent firm, Coromandel International. According to Dhaksha’s plan, a trained graduate drone pilot will be stationed at each outlet to handle spraying and deliver comprehensive farm services directly to local farmers.

 

“Farmers can book these services directly at the store or through our digital platform. It is an ‘Uberisation’ model for farm-spraying services, through which a farmer can dial up or book through an app. With a retail network that connects us directly to over 5 million farmers, we have a strong foundation to scale this model and accelerate the adoption of precision agriculture across the country,” said Sankarasubramanian S, managing director and chief executive officer of Coromandel International.

 

The drone industry covers around 5 per cent of the total farmland in India, said Prem Kumar Vislawath, founder of Marut Drones. India has approximately 444 million acres (180 million hectares) of agricultural land.

 

“Our drones are portable, and we already have around 800 micro-entrepreneurs who purchased the drone from us. These people are servicing almost 2 million farmers a year,” said Vislawath. Marut is one of the largest farm drone manufacturers and has operations spread across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, and Gujarat. “These 2 million farmers spend around ₹3,000-5,000 per year with us for various crop operations,” said Vislawath.

 

DFI believes these applications are not only driving drone sales, but also creating a massive distributed service economy — mirroring other sectors’ shift from asset ownership to on-demand access. “The emergence of app-based drone-as-a-service models is an important next step in democratising access to drone technology, particularly in agriculture. A farmer does not necessarily need to invest ₹5–10 lakh in purchasing a drone, maintaining it and employing a trained pilot. Instead, drone spraying can increasingly be accessed as an on-demand service and paid for based on acreage,” said Smit Shah, DFI’s president.

 

“This can substantially improve utilisation of existing drones while creating viable businesses for drone operators, custom hiring centres and women’s self-help groups (SHGs),” he added.

 

An activity requiring eight hours of manual labour takes a drone just 10 minutes. Drones slash water consumption by 90 per cent, using only 10 litres per acre compared to the 100–200 litres required by conventional spraying methods. Despite this speed advantage, renting a drone costs just ₹500–600 per acre. Beyond these savings, rapid deployment enables precise, timely nutrient application to spur crop growth, while high-resolution aerial imaging optimises land assessment, damage detection, and overall crop management.

 

“A major problem for the industry is that while we have 38,500 registered drones, we have many unregistered ones as well serving the market,” said Pradeep Palelli, cofounder and chief executive officer of Thanos Technologies, an agricultural drone manufacturing company.

 

“This has to be stopped, as Chinese drones with a 30-40 per cent lower price are available in the market. Several single-person drone entrepreneurs, who are offering services in the agriculture sector, are using such drones,” he said. 

 

State support

 

Industry experts say the Kisan Drone programme, initiated by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute in 2016, has helped agriculture. That programme was followed by the Civil Aviation Ministry introducing the Drone Rules, 2021 for using the technology in agriculture under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Scheme.

 

The Namo Drone Didi programme also acted as a catalyst: It has an outlay of ₹1,261 crore FY24 to FY26 to provide 15,000 drones to women’s SHGs.

 

“The next step should be to build interoperable state-level platforms where farmers can discover nearby certified operators, see transparent pricing, book services and maintain a digital record of operations. The government’s role should be to enable the marketplace and aggregate demand, rather than become the drone operator itself,” said Shah, DFI’s president.

 

“In the next five years, drones will be like tractors for the agriculture sector. We expect industry sales of around 500,000 drones by then,” said Vislawath of Marut Drones.

 

As agricultural demand drives sales, the “Uberisation of drones” could soon dominate Indian farms.