India’s drone businesses aim for the skies

A new type of mobility is in the air, and literally in this case. And unless other technologies that future predictions keep droning on without most of them ever coming to light, this one could be a reality earlier than you think.

A drone with a range of 100km tops the list of targets set by Skye Air, one of the pioneers in the drone delivery logistics industry, a sunrise sector. Billed ‘Artemis’, Skye CEO Ankit Kumar claims “it (Artemis) shall add more value to the offerings that we currently have.”

Drones have vroomed away to glory ever since the Union government liberalised rules in August. While there is a lot of talk of using armed drones as precision missile the way Ukrainians have used to effectively slow down the advance of Russian convoys on Kyiv (India has ordered 100 Kamikaze drones from Israel even while trying to develop indigenous technology in the area), their commercial use in logistics, in delivering anything from groceries to medicines have the companies that have mushroomed on the scene excited.

Skye is just one of them. With the government offering a PLI scheme of Rs 120 crore to develop a local drone ecosystem and studies showing drone delivery could transform logistics in a vast country like India, it won’t be the last. Zomato completed test deliveries of food way back in 2019. Others who got permission to do tests include the likes of SpiceXpress, the cargo arm of SpiceJet, Swiggy as well as startup Asteria Aerospace.

Dunzo, in which Reliance recently pumped in about Rs 1,800 crore, recently carried out trials to roll out a delivery service in Karnataka. Other big investors in the sunrise drone sector in India is Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, who has reportedly invested in Omnipresent Roboto Tech.

Ankit Kumar of Skye says drones are cost effective enough to transform the cargo business, giving a short calculation. “A distance covered by road (transport) for 100 rupees can be covered by a drone for 40 rupees,” Kumar said.

15/03/22 K. Sunil Thomas/The Week

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Experts welcome new drone policy

Bengaluru: Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Amber Dubey on Saturday said that the major intent behind liberalising the drone policy in India was to make it a global drone hub. “We have made the policy so liberal that the entire concentration should be more on research and development. There is no sector left where drones cannot be used. The applications are in law and order, defence, agriculture and so on. It will play an important role in war. We have come up with a liberalised policy on drones,” he said at an international virtual conference on the ‘Future of Aerospace & Aviation (FoAA)’, hosted by the Executive Education Programmes Office of IIM Bangalore.

In February, the Ministry of Civil Aviation abolished the requirement of a drone pilot licence.

“In August 2021, we came up with the liberalised drone policy. Then, we released the drone airspace map which freed up almost 85-90 per cent of India as a green zone where you could just go and fly for business or for personal needs. Then the Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) policy was released, followed by the drone type certification policy. We have set up the foundation that was needed,” he added.

In March, last year, the civil aviation ministry had published the UAS Rules, 2021 which the academia and other stakeholders perceived as restrictive since it involved paperwork, permissions for every drone flight and very few ‘free to fly’ green zones.

12/03/22 Aksheev Thakur/Indian Express

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PLI scheme: Aviation ministry invites applications from drone makers

Civil aviation ministry has invited applications from the drone industry for production-linked incentive scheme related to the sector. Interested manufacturers have been asked to file their applications for the scheme by March 31, 2022. The scheme covers manufacturers of drones and drone components, as well as developers of drone-related software.

Centre had approved the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme on September 15, 2021, and the same was notified on September 20, 2021.

The total incentive to be extended under the scheme is ₹120 crore, spread over three financial years, starting from financial year 2021-22. This outlay is nearly double the combined turnover of all domestic drone manufacturers in FY21, Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement. The aviation ministry had earlier informed that ₹16 crore in the first year of the scheme, ₹32 crore in the second year and ₹72 crore in the last year.

The PLI rate for drones and drone components is 20% of the value addition, one of the highest among PLI schemes. As per the ministry guidelines, the value addition will be calculated as the annual sales revenue from drones and drone components (net of GST) minus the purchase cost (net of GST). The PLI rate will remain constant at 20% for all three years of the scheme, a facility granted only to the drone industry. In PLI schemes for other sectors, the PLI rate reduces every year.

The minimum value addition norm has been fixed at 40% of net sales for drones and drone components instead of 50%. Eligibility norm for MSME and startups in terms of annual sales turnover has been pegged at ₹2 crore for drone manufacturers and ₹50 lakh for drone components makers. For non-MSME companies, the annual turnover threshold has been kept at ₹4 crore and ₹1 crore for drones and drone component manufacturers, respectively. In case a manufacturer fails to meet the threshold for the eligible value addition for a particular financial year, she will be allowed to claim the lost incentive in the subsequent year after making up the shortfall. These measures have been put in place to attract more manufacturers to enrol under the scheme.

More than one company within a group may file separate applications under this PLI scheme and the same shall be evaluated independently. However, the total PLI payable to all applicants will be capped at 25% of the total financial outlay under this scheme, the aviation ministry clarified.

11/03/22 Fortune India

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Govt Working To Fastrack UAV Adoption In Agriculture Sector To Leverage Drone Shakti

The central government has ramped up efforts to shore up drone adoption in the agriculture sector.

As part of the plan, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Agriculture.Ministry and the Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee (CIBRC) will fast track applications and adoption of drones in the sector.

A senior official in the CIBRC, Ravi Prakash, said, “The DGCA, the agriculture ministry and CIBRC are working jointly to fast track applications and adoption of drones in the agriculture sector, including crop health monitoring and spraying of soil nutrients.”

Prakash made the comments at a virtual event co-hosted by trade body CropLife and NGO ThinkAg. He further added that drones were affordable and would help in superior production.

According to the report, the Board had so far received applications from eight crop protection companies seeking permission for conducting trials of drones.

CIBRC is a government body that aims to regulate the import, manufacture, sale, transport, distribution and use of insecticides. The Central panel operates under the Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage.

Other arms of the government have also reportedly joined the programme. The National Institute of Plant Health Management has developed a ten-day training module for drone pilots that seeks to train them in flight and spraying via these UAVs. According to the institute, the initiative is awaiting DGCA clearance.

Under the programme, a drone pilot will get a certified drone flying license that will be valid for a period of ten years. The institute is reportedly also mulling to tie up with other central and state agriculture universities and institutes for a pan-India roll out.

This comes barely a month after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech, called for leveraging ‘Drone Shakti’, saying that, ‘Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS) startups were the need of the hour.’ 

Add to this, in February this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had flagged off 100 Kisan Drones for spraying pesticides over farms in various parts of the country.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) last month had also made major policy changes to promote the homegrown drone industry by banning the import of drones with immediate effect, however, with certain caveats. 

11/03/22 Chetan Thathoo/Inc42

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India’s aviation regulator DGCA warns against fake drone training schools

India’s aviation industry regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), is sounding an alarm over increasing drone pilot training scams in the country. The agency says several “fake” schools have cropped up across the nation, falsely claiming to have been approved by the DGCA.

The Indian government has identified drones and their applications as a sunrise sector. The government expects the industry to invest around $655 million in drone manufacturing over the next three years and generate 10,000 direct jobs. To facilitate that, the government went as far as to ban the import of drones in all forms last month.

Meanwhile, on the services side, the government expects its domestic drone industry to grow to over $4 billion in the next three years and generate over 500,000 jobs. And this is a projection that is being exploited by a number of unapproved, fake drone training institutions to lure students.

As DGCA chief Arun Kumar points out in a public notice issued Wednesday:

It has come to the notice of the DGCA through electronic, print media, and various other sources that numerous fake (unrecognized by DGCA) Remote Pilot Training Organization (RPTO) are offering Remote Pilot Training Program, claiming to be approved by DGCA to lure the candidates by misleading advertisement. Applicant and public at large are hereby informed to be careful about such self-styled, unrecognized institutions which are functioning in contravention of Drone Rules 2021.

In view of the above, all such organizations/persons are hereby warned that as per Rule 50 of Drone Rules 2021, an appropriate penalty shall be levied by DGCA, if found involved in such fake activity.

Further, it has come to notice that few NGOs, Federations, Trust, Associations, etc., are also giving misleading advertisements on their websites, claiming to be associated with DGCA/approved by DGCA and collecting membership fees from drone startups and companies in the drone Industry. The general public is hereby advised to be cautious about such demand as DGCA does not support such activity.

09/03/22 Ishveena Singh/DroneDJ

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Skye Air begins drone delivery trials for diagnostic sample collection

Mumbai: Skye Air Mobility has started its 10-day trial of deliveries through drones in Noida, Greater Noida and Meerut for diagnostic sample collection as part of its partnership with Redcliffe Labs.

On the first day of the trials at Noida, six flights were operated for sample collection, the drone delivery services provider said in a statement.

Over the next 10 days, Skye Air will conduct BVLoS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) trials in similar corridors before the commercial roll-out of the service in several semi-urban and remote locations in India, the company said.

Last month, Skye Air Mobility had announced a long-term partnership with diagnostic services provider Redcliffe Labs for faster collection of samples, especially from semi-urban and remote parts of the country.

Redcliffe is a unit of the US-based Redcliffe Lifetch Inc.

"India is poised to lead the drone delivery industry globally with progressive policies and support from the civil aviation ministry at the Centre. As a part of the trial, we will be carrying out multiple flights with diagnostic samples from semi-urban and remote corners to various Redcliffe Labs across the country.

"Today, we generally have to wait for 2472 hours for a test report in cities, this increases in rural and semi-urban areas. Redcliffe Labs has progressive plans to cut down logistics time and bring up faster results for their patients via drone delivery at scale, said Swapnik Jakkampudi, Co-Founder, Skye Air Mobility.

The flights conducted by drones on the first day of trials reduced the distance to 6.5 km, as compared to 15 km by road, thereby saving a lot of time as well, the company said.

Skye Air is set to carry out multiple BVLoS flights lifting a combined payload up to 5 kg of various diagnostic samples from across the country, the company said, adding it will prove to be a game-changer as it will help Redcliffe Labs to speed up the process and increase the efficiency.

04/03/22 PTI/Business Standard

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