Drones offer tremendous benefits to sectors such as agriculture, vaccine delivery, surveillance, search and rescue, transportation, mapping, defence, law enforcement, etc. The Government is utilising services of drone service providers for vaccine delivery, inspection of oil pipelines and power transmission lines, anti-locust operations, agricultural spraying, survey of mines, land mapping under SVAMITVA scheme for issuance of digital property cards, etc. Private players are free to use drones for delivery purposes subject to compliance with Drone Rules, 2021. The Drones Rules, 2021 notified on 25 August 2021 provide the necessary regulatory framework for commercial use of drones. These rules cover various aspects like type certification, registration and operation of drones, airspace restrictions, research, development and testing of drones, training and licensing, offences and penalties etc. In September, 2021, the Government notified the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to promote the growth of drone manufacturing by private companies. The scheme provides for an incentive of Rs 120 crores, spread over three financial years. The PLI rate is 20% of the value addition over three financial years. PLI for a manufacturer shall be capped at 25% of total annual outlay. A provisional list of 23 PLI beneficiaries was released on 6th July 2022. The beneficiaries include 12 manufacturers of drones and 11 manufacturers of drone components.
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Note: The above-mentioned news was first published by us in our ProjectX India | 1st September 2022 edition. Click here to buy this issue. Access Drones news, projects, tenders, and contract award information in each fortnightly issue of ProjectX India PDF version. Go for an annual subscription and get access to 24 issues in a year.