New drone PLI to focus on R&D, manufacturing, may leave out testing
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: The government is likely to allow sops for research & development and manufacturing under a new productivity-linked incentive policy for drones that is being discussed within the government, two people told Mint. The original proposal was to provide incentives for testing, R&D and manufacturing.
“The idea is to reduce the dependence on a certain country for parts that go into drone making. Hence, we are likely to decide on offering incentives for R&D and manufacturing and not on providing any incentive on testing," said an aviation ministry official, who did not want to be identified. By “a certain country" the official meant China.
The official added that the new incentive scheme is still “work in progress," as it is being discussed at various levels. “The proposal is to have an incentive amount of ₹3,000 crore but the decision is yet to be taken. Also, the incentive will focus on civil drone industry and not on military," the official said.
Officials said drone testing will continue as before at various centres including at the premier agency National Test House (NTH), which has its main centre in Ghaziabad, and branches at Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Ghaziabad, Jaipur, Guwahati and Varanasi. But the service will not attract an incentive. Mint first wrote on 19 September that the government is looking at a ₹3,000 crore scheme to help create a drone ecosystem in the country.
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