Private Players Free To Use Drones For Delivery: Govt To Parliament

The government on Monday (August 1) informed the Rajya Sabha that private players are free to use drones for delivery purposes provided they comply with Drone Rules, 2021. 

In reply to a question, Minister of State (MoS) for Civil Aviation General (Retd) VK Singh said that the government is already utilising the services of drone players for a slew of purposes including vaccine delivery, inspection of oil pipelines and power transmission lines, agricultural spraying, among others.

Drones have also been deployed by authorities for survey of mines and land mapping under the Centre’s ambitious Survey of Villages Abadi & Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMITVA) scheme.

“Drones offer tremendous benefits to almost all sectors of the economy. These include agriculture, vaccine delivery, surveillance, search and rescue, transportation, mapping, defence and law enforcement to name a few,” the minister said.

Singh also said that the government has notified a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to promote drone manufacturing by private companies. The scheme was announced in September 2021 with a total incentive of INR 120 Cr. 

It is pertinent to note that the second provisional list of 23 PLI beneficiaries was released last month. 

In reply to a separate question, MoS for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that 126 industrial training institutes(ITIs) across 19 states have undertaken five short-term skilling courses on drone manufacturing, repairing and maintenance. 

Gujarat is home to the largest number of such ITIs at around 20, followed by Uttar Prdeash with 15 and Assam with 14. Maharashtra is home to 12 such ITIs, while Andhra Pradesh has 11 such ITIs. 

Increasing Use Of Drones By Startups

Startups and other private players have shown a lot of interest in the drone delivery space in recent times. In April, foodtech startup Swiggy shortlisted four drone startups – Garuda Aerospace, Skyeair Mobility, ANRA+TechEagle Consortia, and Marut Dronetech – to pilot its grocery delivery project in Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR. 

In January this year, Zypp Electric also announced that it would commence drone delivery of packages in five cities – Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi-NCR. Piramal Foundation, in collaboration with Redwing Labs, also piloted drones for faster transportation of tuberculosis samples in Odisha’s Kalahandi in April this year. 

States such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, and Punjab also tested long-range drone deliveries on a pilot basis in June last year. Telangana government had also partnered with hyperlocal delivery app Dunzo last year to pilot drone-based deliveries of medicines in the state. 

The Centre has lately unveiled a slew of measures to spur the drone manufacturing sector. From liberalised drone rules to banning drone imports, the Centre aims to leverage ‘Drone Shakti’ to push emerging startups from the sector. 

The space is populated by new emerging players such as ideaForge, Garuda Aerospace,  IoTechWorld, Skylark Drones, among others.

According to Statista, the Indian drone industry generated revenue to the tune of $19.93 Mn in 2022. This number is expected to grow annually at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.12% between 2022 and 2027.