14 Firms Selected For Incentives Under Rs 120 cr PLI Scheme For Drones And Drone Components Manufacturing: Civil Aviation Ministry

The Ministry of Civil Aviation today (Apr 20) announced that 14 firms have been selected under the Union government's Rs 120 crore Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for manufacturing of drone and drone components.

The selected firms include five drone manufacturers and nine drone component manufacturers.

The ministry invited applications from eligible manufacturers on 10^th March 2022 and the last date for submission was 31^st March 2022.

The PLI scheme aims to propel in to India a global drone hub by 2030

The Drone PLI scheme was notified on 30 September 2021, and the total incentive under the scheme totals Rs 120 crore spread over three financial years, which is nearly double the combined turnover of all domestic drone manufacturers in FY 2020-21.

The PLI incentive rate for the scheme at 20% of the value addition is one of the highest among other PLI scheme.

Another unique feature of drone PLI scheme is that the manufacturers who fail to meet the value addition threshold in 2021-22 will be allowed to claim the lost incentive in the subsequent year if they make up the shortfall in 2022-23. The value addition will be calculated as the annual sales revenue from drones and drone components (net of GST) minus the purchase cost (net of GST) of drone and drone components.

The list of shortlisted drone manufacturers is as follows:

1. Dhaksha Unmanned Systems, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

The list of shortlisted drone components manufacturers is as follows:

1. Absolute Composites, Bangalore, Karnataka

Besides the PLI scheme, the government has unveiled several measure including liberalised Drone Rules, publishing of Drone Airspace Map opening ip nearly 90% of Indian airspace as a green zone upto 400 feet, . The government also has imposed ban on import of foreign-made drones abolished requirement of a drone pilot licence for drone operations.