According to a study conducted by Nexgen Exhibitions, the government needs to expand the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme and develop an ecosystem to achieve the goal of making India a global drone hub.
The study noted that as per the Ministry of Civil Aviation projections, the Indian drone manufacturing industry is expected to reach Rs 9 billion by 2025 from Rs 0.6 billion in 2020-21. It further noted that the Indian drone market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.15 per cent during the 2024-30 period. With innovation and expansion of its application portfolio, India has the potential of becoming the global drone hub by 2030.
As per the report, the key to realising India’s vision lies in boosting the domestic drone ecosystem. Other major factors include expansion of PLI scheme, government procurement, and pushing Make in India initiative.
The report highlighted that applications of drones are already proven in the fields of border surveillance, rescue disaster management, and COVID-19 pandemic management. Further, the drone services industry’s operations in logistics, data processing, and traffic management etc. are far bigger in scale and will outshine the other related sectors very soon.
The survey was conducted across 10 states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. The survey also reached out to foreign companies from the Middle East, Europe, the UK, the US, and Australia.
