Karnataka govt plans major push for drone industry

The Karnataka government is planning a multi-pronged push to make the state the preferred destination for the bourgeoning drone sector, which is expected to be a billion-dollar nationwide industry by 2025.

Consultations are already being carried out with industry stakeholders, including the Drone Federation of India, and another round of talks will be held this week, on September 7, a top state government official told DH.

“We need to create an ecosystem. We are looking to come up with research and development facilities and testing laboratories. These will be funded in a public-private partnership model,” the official said.

The person said that the state government is working with the drone industry stakeholders to come up with a comprehensive drone policy, a subsidy scheme and other incentives.

Plans are already afoot to set up an institute of excellence for the drone sector in Chickballapur by the SJC Institute of Technology, which is affiliated to the Sir M. Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology. The centre is being set up in partnership with a private sector start-up.

“There are two aspects. One is the industry, wherein drones are being built for mapping, agriculture, logistics and security applications, and the other is the hobby and gaming market. The state’s aim is to be the leader and preferred destination for both. There will be focus on skilling, incubation of early-stage drone start-ups and also funding,” the person said.

When asked what sort of investment the state is looking to make, the official said that the numbers are still being firmed up.

The drone sector has witnessed strong growth in the past few years and is expected to continue doing so. As per an industry research report by Fisdom, the market for drones in India is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.23% between 2023 and 2028.

Additionally, the annual sales turnover of the drone services sector is projected to cross Rs 30,000 crores in the next three years, helping create over 5 lakh direct and indirect jobs in the country.

The fast expansion of the drone sector can be gauged by the fact that in her 2022 Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the Drone Shakti Scheme, which seeks to unify the efforts of the drone ecosystem through the institutionalisation and creation of a structure to enable synergies among multiple stakeholders.

Subsequently, the central government had also approved a Rs 120-crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the segment in the same year.