Drone industry hopes for higher PLI outlay in budget
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The drone industry, one of India’s sunrise sectors, wants the government to increase allocations under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme in the upcoming Union Budget for 2025-26. In September 2021, the government announced a PLI scheme for the drone sector for a period of three years with a total financial outlay of ₹120 crore.
These subsidies were aimed at boosting manufacturing of drones, components, and also covered software development. The chief executive of Ideaforge Ltd, the country's largest drone maker, said an increased outlay will help the country to reduce import dependency. “Given the potential of the technology and the industry, we need a much larger scheme amounting to ₹1,000-2,000 crore to unlock this opportunity over at least 5 years," said Ankit Mehta, CEO of ideaForge.
“This will help to develop the domestic supply ecosystem and reduce import dependency." Navi Mumbai-based Ideaforge, which started manufacturing drones almost two decades back and went public in 2023, recorded revenue of ₹37.10 crore in Q2 FY25 Industry body Drone Federation of India (DFI) also believes a revised scheme can help grow the industry and bring in more investments. “The upcoming budget is a crucial moment to strengthen India's position as a global leader in drone technology," said Smit Shah, president of DFI. “A revised PLI scheme that reflects the unique needs of the sector and encourages deeper investments is much needed." DFI has over 200 drone manufacturers and over 350 service providers as its members.
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