India Drone Market: Investment & Growth Opportunity Analysis, 2019-2028

The Indian drone market was nearly US$ 920 million in 2021 and is expected to witness a robust growth rate of around 18% during the projected period. Drones are generally unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. The flight of UAVs may operate under remote control by a human operator, as remotely-piloted aircraft (RPA), or with various degrees of autonomy, such as autopilot assistance, up to fully autonomous aircraft that have no provision for human intervention.

India is in the process to experiment, explore, and implement drones for various applications across sectors. The prominent ones include photography, agriculture, mining, telecom, insurance, telecom, oil & gas, construction, transport, disaster management, geospatial mapping, forest and wildlife, defense, and law enforcement. Since traditional methods of performing everyday errands are sometimes time-intensive and prone to human error, utilizing drones in their place can result in considerable cost savings and mass adoption while enhancing the value of information obtained.

The market and the entire drone ecosystem, which includes drone maintenance, repair, overhaul, drone platform services, as well as drone training, and education, are all being propelled by the expanding variety of drone applications. Aerial cinematography, land surveys, monitoring agriculture, mining & construction activities, disaster management, and mapping national highways and railway tracks are critical growing applications of drones in India.

The government aims to make India a global drone hub through a positive and supportive ecosystem is expected to fuel the market growth

The key growth driver of the Indian drone market includes the government’s aim to make India a global drone hub through favorable policies and incentives, like the Production Linked Investment (PLI) scheme worth US$ 16 million to boost the manufacturing of drones in the country. Moreover, the government intends to support startups that promote drones as a service (DaaS). Businesses can use drones as a service to access a variety of services, eliminating the need for them to invest in drone hardware, software, pilots, and training programs.  

The government plans to use drones in various sectors like ‘Kisan Drones’ for crop assessment, digitizing land records, and spraying insecticides and nutrients. Further, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has made mandatory the use of drones for monthly video recording of all national highway projects during their different stages of development, construction, operation, and maintenance. However, Government announced New Drone Policy in 2021, which makes it mandatory for the user to register on the digital sky platform and obtain a unique identification number.

Moreover, only a holder of a remote pilot license enlisted on the digital sky platform shall be allowed to operate an unmanned aerial vehicle. The UTM (unmanned traffic management) framework issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA) defines the architecture and mechanism for UTM in Very Low Level (VLL) airspace up to 1,000 feet above ground level. As a result, such policies tend to be harsh on domestic players. Nevertheless, the imports of drones in completely build-up (CBU), semi-knocked-down (SKD), or completely knocked-down (CKD) forms are prohibited to encourage domestic players to brace themselves for indigenous manufacturing.

North India and West & Central India constitute a huge market share in the Indian drone market

North India and West & Central India constitute a major market share in the Indian Drone Market. The expansion of the market in the area is attributed to the favorable investment by government agencies in drone operations. Higher security and monitoring applications, supported by significant commercial usage of drones will further fuel the growth of the Indian drone market. Owing to the penetration of terrorist groups and attacks around the Indian LOC (line of control) area, the government tends to become the largest consumer of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) or drones.

Moreover, several surgical strikes and missions operated by the Indian Army might bring new projects and opportunities for indigenous manufacturers. Moreover, the government continues to develop policies, processes, and regulations to improve appropriate access to counter-drone capabilities.

Market Structure and Competitive Landscape

The Indian drone manufacturing industry is flooded with start-up companies and some of the leading players entering the space through the inorganic route. The Indian Drone Market is characterized by the presence of various players operating in the market. Some of the prominent players that contribute significantly to the Indian drone market include ideaForge Technology Pvt. Ltd., Asteria Aerospace Pvt. Ltd., Aarav Unmanned Systems Pvt. Ltd., Tata Advanced Systems Pvt. Ltd., Throttle Aerospace Systems Pvt. Ltd., Shenzhen DJI Innovation Technology Co., Elbit Systems Ltd., Adani Defence & Aerospace, UrbanMatrix Technologies, Dhaksha Unmanned Systems, General Aeronautics, Paras Aerospace, TechEagle, and others.

The above-mentioned players are majorly regional players and to maintain a healthy competitive environment, private firms indulge in alliances with the government to fulfill their needs. Regional players form strategies to acquire a majority stake in tech start-ups to maintain a competitive edge over the participants in the market. Following are some of the expansions of the Indian Drone Market:

• In May 2022, TechEagle collaborated with India Post to deliver mail through drone in Gujarat.
• In May 2022, Adani Enterprises signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 50% stake in General Aeronautics Private Limited, which provides commercial drone-based solutions for crop protection.
• In October 2021, European drone developer FIXAR ties up with Paras Aerospace to enter the Indian market. As a first step towards this partnership, the company announced to launch of its flagship fixed-wing drone FIXAR007 in the country.

Key Market Segmentation

RationalStat has segmented the Indian Drone market based on type, payload, end user, application, and region.

• By Type
  • Fixed Wing
  • Rotary Wing
• Payload
  • <25 Kg
  • 25 Kg-170 Kg
  • > 170Kg
• By End User
  • Individual
  • Commercial
  • Military
• By Application
  • Recreational
  • Aerial Surveying & Photography
  • Construction
  • Film and Television
  • Border Security
  • Combat Operations
  • Agricultural Drones
• By Sales Channel
  • Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)
  • Aftermarket
• By Region
  • North India
  • West and Central India
  • East India
  • South India

Research Methodology

RationalStat has developed a state-of-the-art research methodology to crunch numbers and provide the best possible real-time insights to clients. We combine a varied range of industry experience, data analytics, and experts’ viewpoint to create a research methodology for market sizing and forecasting.

RationalStat combines a mix of secondary sources as well as primary research to assess the market size and develop a forecast. Key steps involved in accurately deriving the market numbers are:

• Defining the problem by understanding the type of market and data required by the client.
• Data gathering and collection through relevant paid databases, publicly available sources, company reports, annual reports, surveys, and interviews.
• Formulating a hypothesis to create market numbers, forecasts, influencing factors, and their relevance.
• Evaluating and analyzing the data by referring to data sources utilized and leveraged.
• Validating, interpreting, and finalizing the data by combining the details gathered from primary and secondary sources with the help of experienced analysts.

Secondary Sources

• Annual reports, company filings, investor presentations, product catalogs, and company documents
• Industry and market-related documents available in the public domain
• Paid database including Bloomberg, Factiva, S&P Capital IQ, FactSet, Refinitiv Eikon, ICIS, EUWID, and Thomson Reuters, among others
• Whitepapers, research papers, and industry blogs.

Why Buy this Report?

The report is intended for drone manufacturers, component suppliers, third-party distributors, government organizations, research institutes, educational organizations, regulatory agencies, and market research firms, among others. The report provides an in-depth analysis of market size, consumption patterns, ongoing market trends and challenges, and future market opportunities. The report will serve as a source for a 360-degree analysis of the market thoroughly delivering insights to clients to find the right answers to their business questions.

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