To boost Modi government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat, the Centre has approved the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drones and drone components. According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, drones offer multiple benefits to almost all sectors of the economy, including defence, agriculture, infrastructure, surveillance, mining, emergency response, transportation, geo-spatial mapping, law enforcement, etc. Considering its traditional strengths in innovation, frugal engineering, IT, as well as its huge domestic demand, India has the potential of becoming a global drone hub by the year 2030. The government-approved PLI scheme for drones and drone components comes as a follow-through of the liberalised Drone Rules 2021, which was released by the Centre on 25 August 2021. Following are some of the top features of the PLI scheme for drones:
