The drone industry has urged the government to increase the outlay for the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme aimed at the sector to continue the incentive and motivation for the industry to keep growing and develop in-house technologies.
Drone Federation of India's President Smit Shah told CNBC-TV18 that the growth of the Indian drone industry has even surpassed its own expectations, and the current PLI outlay will soon get over as the defence ecosystem alone is expected to procure drones worth Rs 3,000 crore.
Shah expects a revenue of Rs 30,000 crore and a 10-fold growth for the drone industry in the next three to five years, while projecting creation of 10,000 to 15,000 direct and indirect jobs in the drone sector in next six to 12 months. Even as he referred to extensive use of drones in the defence and the agricultural sector, he stressed on the need to sensitise the society towards looking at drones as an economic and strategic opportunity rather than a threat to jobs.
Citing an example of farm mechanisation technologies, he said that deployment of tractors didn't take away jobs of labourers, but instead created better jobs for the same set of people, which he feels will be replicated for drone pilots too as their job also doesn't need big qualifications.
Referring to DFI's recent collaboration with the Indian Navy, Shah said that a special testing site for maritime environment for drones around coastal areas will be developed for industry access as the pace at which drone technology is being developed needs a deeper industry connect. Under the collaboration, drones will be flown from ship to shore and vice-versa in the dedicated space and environment provided by the Indian Navy, where DFI expects to accelerate indigenous development of drone technology for the Indian Navy.
While counter-drone technologies are being deployed at various places to deter incoming of rogue drones in wake of recent drone incursions from neighbouring countries, the DFI President opined that the upcoming UNSC meet should focus on joint efforts to stop cross-border drone launches, adding that stopping the launch of cross-border drones should be the responsibility of the host country from where they're being launched
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