Home delivery with drones in India still a long way to go

Early last year, Bengaluru-based food delivery firm Swiggy called for bids in the drone-as-a-service (DaaS) market for its grocery service - Instamart. It selected Garuda Aerospace, Marut Dronetech and Skye Air Mobility for running pilots. However, only Garuda has been able to execute a pilot, while the others await permission to do so. Commercial operations, however, is still elusive.

The production linked incentive (PLI) offered to drone and drone component makers and the ban on drone imports in Budget 2022, preceded by the liberalised drone policy of 2021, the National Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) policy framework for managing drone traffic in airspace below 1000 feet and the National Logistics Policy of 2022, have given this sunrise industry much to cheer. However, the radio silence on one critical enabler – a regulatory system on beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) – in Budget 2023, has kept commercial operations still aspirational.

With their trial runs for Swiggy is going on in Bangalore and Delhi, Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and CEO, Garuda Aerospace, is hopeful the commercial operations will take shape in the current calendar. However, drone operations, presently, have been limited to that within visual-line-of-sight (VLOS), where its application has largely been in the area of defence and agricultural usage. Prem Marut, Founder, Marut Drones – a Hyderabad-based drone manufacturer, pointed out that the restrictions on BVLOS flying of drones and the absence of a certification process yet is a major roadblock to cargo/delivery drones’ take-off.

The Potential

The falling price of lithium-ion batteries, the acceleration of autonomous and AI technologies and increased involvement of venture capital firms have all spurred the local industry, observed Rafiq Somani, Area Vice President, APAC, Ansys Inc, a Pennsylvania-based multinational offering engineering simulation software for product design, testing and operation. Projections have also been buoyant.

The Indian drone industry, valued at Rs 2,900 crore in 2022, is projected to grow to Rs 81,600 crore by 2025 and Rs 2.95 lakh crore by 2030, with a 60% hardware indigenisation (according to a FICCI-EY report in 2022).

As more e-commerce platforms and retailers attempt to go hyperlocal, drone delivery is emerging as an ideal solution for last-mile delivery. “Drone will be widely used across hilly terrain for all kinds of supplies and in the cities it will start with moving large volumes of inventory between hubs, reducing delivery turnaround time,” predicted Sarath Gudlavalleti, CEO of NeoSky, an UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) maker. Jayaprakash of Garuda, sees big opportunity for drones in moving goods from rural part of the country to urban fringes.

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Other Challenges

However, Arjun Naik, Founder and CEO, Scandron, a drone manufacturing company, warned, “The technology has not developed to the point where navigation or liability of drones to deliver to your balcony or your door exists.”
Industry players point to issues of negotiating open electrical cables, density of houses, and the lack of mapping, as some of immediate obstacles to last-mile delivery. They also talk of the need for upskilling for pilots, skill development and training along with investments in drone infrastructure including docking centres and charging stations.
Some industry observers point to drones being more conducive to economies with high labour cost, such as the US. India, where labour is cheap, may not find prudence in switching to drones, they say.

The Future

For all this scepticism, the Indian gig economy is gearing to embrace drones for its last mile delivery. Swiggy, Zomato and Dunzo have already announced plans in this direction.

Drone operators continue to be gung-ho. Scandron CEO envisages his company will have 10,000-15,000 drones in operation with Rs500-600 crore turnover this calendar. Garuda Aerospace is in negotiations with Swiggy, Zomato, Flipkart, Amazon and Dunzo.