The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drones and drone components was announced in 2021 for the Indian drone industry to thrive
In the latest update from the drone world, Aereo (formerly Aarav Unmanned Systems) announced that it received the first set of disbursements from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drones and drone components. It is noteworthy that the PLI scheme for drones and drone components was announced in September 2021. Out of the total 23 provisionally shortlisted drone companies, six were drone component manufacturers. All of them received the first incentives this month. It is learnt that MoCA has disbursed Rs 30 crores to 12 beneficiaries for the fiscal year 2022-23.
This drone component manufacturer boasts of having built advanced intellectual properties (IPs) since its inception and filed around 15 patents. The co-founder and CEO of Aereo, Vipul Singh remarked: “The first PLI disbursement marks a milestone for indigenous drone technology in India. We are extremely thankful to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) for the timely release of this amount. The PLI incentive will enable Aereo to expand its operations across and beyond the nation, and also accelerate indigenous R&D in the country. Along with PLI we also look forward towards a Design Linked Incentive (DLI) in the next year that will further strengthen the booming drone industry.”
Apart from Aereo, Asteria Aerospace from Bengaluru, Dhaksha Unmanned Systems from Chennai, EndureAir Systems from Noida, Garuda Aerospace from Chennai, and Ideaforge Technology from Mumbai are the other drone component manufacturing companies that were shortlisted by the Central Government under the PLI scheme for drones.
2013-born Aereo (formerly Aarav Unmanned Systems) is India’s leading drone technology company for commercial drone applications. Founded in IIT Kanpur, the Bengaluru-headquartered company claims to have mapped over 40,000 villages and touched the lives of over 45 million people. Its website says that Aereo was the first company to launch India’s first DGCA-certified survey-grade PPK drone: Aereo INP.
