Domestic drone manufacturers have said the release of the second list of beneficiaries under the government’s flagship PLI scheme will go a long way in encouraging more players to ramp up capacity

“Next year we expect the number of PLI beneficiaries and their sales turnover to grow even further,” added Dubey. “Next year we expect the number of PLI beneficiaries and their sales turnover to grow even further,” added Dubey.

Even as the second provisional list of beneficiaries under the government’s flagship Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme was released late Wednesday, the Ministry of Civil Aviation remained confident that India’s fledgling drone sector was well on target to become a $30 billion industry by 2030.

“Thanks to several policy initiatives by the government and innovative use cases developed by the drone start-ups, the sales turnover of these 23 PLI beneficiaries has increased by over 250 per cent in one year,” joint secretary in the ministry, Amber Dubey exclusively told Business Today following the announcement.

“Next year we expect the number of PLI beneficiaries and their sales turnover to grow even further,” added Dubey.

Beneficiaries under the second list include 12 drone manufacturers and 11 drone component manufacturers. The list has been prepared based on unaudited financial results, and other related information such as revenue by sales and value addition in FY 2021-22.

The eligibility criteria for the scheme for drone and drone component manufacturers stipulate an annual sales turnover of Rs 2 crore for drone companies and Rs 50 lakh for drone components manufacturers, and value addition of over 40 per cent of their sales turnover.

The doggedness displayed by domestic start-ups despite disruptions caused by pandemic-induced lockdowns and geopolitical risks leading to challenges in the sourcing of critical components such as batteries, motors and fight controllers also came in for ministry’s special praise.

Remarked Dubey, “Kudos to these young entrepreneurs who struggled against myriad challenges but never gave up. Their best is yet to come!”

Quick Implementation, IP Creation Key

Welcoming the centre’s support to their nascent and emerging sector, drone manufacturers said that the initiative would go a long way in encouraging more players to ramp up capacity.

“The PLI scheme will give a boost to indigenous manufacturing of drones and drone components and is a progressive step towards making India a drone hub. It will strengthen the domestic manufacturing ecosystem, making it competitive in the global market while creating new job opportunities,” noted, co-founder & director of Asteria Aerospace, Neel Mehta.

Asteria Aerospace is a leading manufacturer of both military and enterprise drones and is one of the beneficiaries under the second list.

“Quick decision making and implementation of PLI scheme is another important step towards making India the drone hub of the world,” said co-founder & CEO AUS, Vipul Singh, an enterprise drone maker and another beneficiary of the PLI scheme this time.

“Going forward, we need to also evolve to incentivise indigenous intellectual property (IP) creation in this sector to encourage global innovation as well as to protect the country’s long-term interests,” suggested Singh.

Notified in September last year, the PLI scheme for drone and drone components provides for a total incentive of Rs 120 crore spread over three financial years, which is nearly double the combined turnover of all domestic drone manufacturers during the previous fiscal. The PLI rate of 20 per cent of the value addition is among the highest under the scheme.

Moreover, manufacturers who fail to meet the value addition threshold in FY21-22 will be allowed to claim the lost incentive in the subsequent year if they make up for the shortfall in 2022-23.