Govt to provide incentives worth Rs 120 cr to drone manufacturers

New Delhi, July 26 (KNN) Under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, the central government will provide drone manufacturers and drone component manufacturers incentives worth Rs 120 crore over the next three years.

During the ongoing Rajya Sabha session, General (Retd) VK Singh, Minister of State for Civil Aviation in a written reply to a question said, that the government is providing a total incentive of Rs 120 crore spread over three financial years starting 2021-22, adding that the incentive for 2021-22 will be payable in 2022-23 after scrutiny of the financial results of the beneficiaries.

Under this scheme, centre has made a provisional list of 23 PLI beneficiaries, including 12 drone manufacturers and 11 drone component manufacturers for the distribution of the grant.

Aarav Unmanned Systems, Bengaluru, Karnataka; Asteria Aerospace, Bengaluru, Karnataka; Dhaksha Unmanned Systems, Chennai, Tamil Nadu; EndureAir Systems, Noida, Uttar Pradesh; Garuda Aerospace, Chennai, Tamil Nadu; Ideaforge Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra are among the firms shortlisted for drone manufacturing incentives.

The government has also made a separate eligibility criteria for MSMEs and non-MSME firms to avail the incentives.

A sum of Rs 2 crore of annual sales revenue for drone manufacturers and Rs 50 lakh of annual sales revenue for drone component manufacturers is the eligibility norm specified by the government for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and startups.

Some of the companies shortlisted under the scheme for drone component manufacturing include Absolute Composites, Bengaluru, Karnataka; Adani-Elbit Advanced Systems India, Hyderabad, Telangana; Adroitec Information Systems, New Delhi; Alpha Design Technologies, Bengaluru, Karnataka; Dynamake Engineering, Hyderabad, Telangana; Imaginarium Rapid, Mumbai, Maharashtra etc.  (KNN Bureau)