India’s Digital Economy In A Nutshell
The Rise Of India’s Drone Tech Startups
Decoding The Drone Tech Opportunity
India's Drone Tech Startup Landscape
The Drone Tech Value Chain
Understanding Drone Tech Use Cases
Drone Tech Funding Trends In India
The List Of India's Drone Tech Startups Regulatory
By 2025, 56% of all new internet users will be from rural areas, and 65% of new internet users will be female
SOURCE: IAMAI, INC42 ANALYSIS
7K+ 5G Enabled Indian Cities/towns
395 Mn Number Of Male Internet Users 349 Mn Number Of Female
Users
Drone Tech Startups In India 140 Mn+
Funding Raised By Indian Drone Tech Startups Since 2014
$13 Bn+
Estimated Indian Drone Market Opportunity By 2030 21% CAGR For Drone Tech Market Opportunity In India From 2022 To 2030 13K+ Registered Drones In India 63+
Source: 1Lattice
Source: Inc42
Note: This is not an exhaustive list
COMPONENTS
UP TO 250 GM MORE THAN 250 GM
TO 25 KG UP TO 150 KG UP TO 2 KG MORE THAN 2 KG MORE THAN 25 KG MORE THAN 15O KG
Source: Digital Sky (DGCA)
Note: Drones Categorised By Maximum Weight Including Payload
Drones for Enhanced Crop Management: This could help in efficiently scanning vast agricultural landscapes, generating detailed maps for prompt action on crop stress, disease, and tailored treatment, thereby refining farming methods.
Mapping And Surveying Of Land
Crop Health Assessment
Aerial Seeding And
Crop Dusting
Spraying And Pest Control
Providing Data For R&D
Insurance And Risk Assessment
Livestock Monitoring
Environmental Monitoring And Conservation
Precision in Application: Drones, fitted with advanced sprayers, deliver agrochemicals precisely to targeted crop zones. This method reduces chemical consumption, minimises environmental impact, and boosts treatment efficiency.
Rapid Crop Monitoring: Equipped with high-definition cameras, drones facilitate quick crop inspections. They assist in yield predictions, highlight areas needing improvement, and inform harvesting plans, thus streamlining inventory management.
Cost-Effective Terrain Accessibility: Drones navigate difficult or remote terrains effortlessly, cutting down operational expenses. They provide valuable insights across diverse field sections, significantly improving overall agricultural administration.
Drought Management
Post-Harvest Monitoring
Source: Inc42, Secondary Sources
Last-Mile Delivery Optimisation: Drones are increasingly used for the last-mile delivery of parcels, particularly in hard-to-reach or densely populated areas. They provide a swift, effective solution for delivering small, urgent packages.
Emergency Response Efficiency: In critical situations, drones are invaluable for quickly transporting medical supplies, first aid essentials, or blood samples to isolated or disaster-impacted regions, where standard transport methods are impractical.
Warehouse Inventory Management: Drones, equipped with advanced sensors and scanning technologies, enhance inventory control in warehouses. They facilitate more frequent and faster stock audits than traditional approaches, resulting in heightened accuracy and operational efficiency.
Cost and Time Savings in Logistics: Utilising drones in logistics can significantly cut transportation costs and delivery time. They avoid traffic jams, follow direct routes, and reduce the need for human handling in various delivery stages.
Rental Services: DaaS providers present drones for short-term hire, enabling individuals or businesses to utilise drones for specific projects or timeframes without the commitment of ownership. This includes a range of drones, outfitted with bespoke features or payloads suited to diverse tasks.
Data Collection and Analysis: DaaS firms specialise in delivering drone-based data gathering services. They procure aerial imagery, videos, or specific data using drones fitted with sensors, cameras, or other specialised equipment. Moreover, these firms often provide data processing and analysis services to extract practical insights from the amassed data.
Industry-Specific Solutions: DaaS providers tailor their offerings to particular industries such as agriculture, construction, real estate, insurance, and others. They deliver customised solutions using drones for industry-specific requirements like crop monitoring, site surveying, infrastructure inspection, and property evaluation.
Environmental Monitoring and Conservation: DaaS supports environmental monitoring endeavours, aiding in conservation efforts by employing drones for wildlife tracking, habitat evaluation, and observing ecological changes, all while minimising disturbance to natural environments.
Surveillance and Reconnaissance: Military drones are extensively utilised for intelligence gathering, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations. They offer real-time aerial perspectives of targeted areas, aiding in monitoring enemy movements, border surveillance, and threat evaluation, all whilst minimising risk to human lives.
Target Acquisitionand Tracking: Armed drones, equipped with sophisticated sensors and targeting systems, are employed for identifying and tracking targets on the ground or at sea. They assist in precise target acquisition for accuracy in strikes or tactical manoeuvres.
Combat Support: Drones bolster support to ground forces by providing situational awareness and aerial assistance during military operations. They can convey vital information about enemy positions, assist in directing artillery fire, and offer cover for advancing troops.
Film Production
Advertising and Promotions
Event Coverage
Documentaries and Wildlife Filming
Aerial Photography
Aerial Videography
Sports Filming
Source: Inc42, Secondary Sources
Drones are changing the landscape of aerial cinematography by offering a more accessible and affordable way to capture high-quality aerial shots.
Unlike traditional methods involving helicopters or airplanes, drones provide a cost-effective means to achieve similar results.
With the ability to easily maneuver and shoot from various heights and angles, drones are enabling new perspectives in storytelling, making them a practical choice for adding visual depth to film projects.
Tata 1mg Has Initiated The Use Of Drone Delivery Services For Medications In Dehradun
Jio Using Drones For Tower Surveillance
Swiggy Piloted With Garuda Aerospace To Employ Drone Tech For Grocery Deliveries In Delhi NCR And Bengaluru
Zomato Conducted Successful Trials For Food Delivery Using Drones
Flipkart Partnered With The Telangana Govt For Drone Delivery Of Life-Saving Medicines And Expanded Trials To Transport Smaller Shipments From Warehouses To Distribution Centers For Middle-Mile Deliveries
Tata Coffee Piloted Drones For Shade Lopping And Spraying
Shiprocket Has Tied Up With Drone Delivery Startup To Deliver Shipments Via Drones.
Hindalco Utilises Drones For Indoor Inspections
Delhivery Piloted Using Drones For Delivering Payloads Weighing Up To 4 Kg
Indian Army Uses Drone For Border Surveillance And Anti Terror Operations
State Governments Used Drone For Multiple Purposes Such As Covid Monitoring, Delivery Of Covid Vaccine, Reforestation Etc.
Source: Inc42, multiple secondary sources
Note: Startups may not be using drones at present
Bengaluru HQ
Funding Amount
$748K+
GrowX, 500 Startups, StartupXseed, 3one4 capital, Valpro Investors
Chennai NA NA
Offering Drone-based solutions for enterprise applications
Nagpur
$100K+ Krunal Kalbende
Builds autonomous hybrid drones to enhance aerial surveying, surveillance and rescue applications
Works in the field of drone technology, geophysical services, AI, data analytics, face recognition and blockchain technology
Bengaluru
$2.9 Mn+ Reliance Industries
Hyderabad
$31K+ Upaya Social Ventures, Acumen Fund Inc
Offers drone-as-a-service (DaaS) solutions and builds drones for industries such as defence, agriculture, oil and gas, mining and construction, telecommunications, and energy.
Technology-driven agricultural facilitator offering drone-based advisory solutions. Their comprehensive four-part service aims to optimize input utilisation, reduce crop losses, and enhance profit margins.
Chennai HQ
$25.5 Mn+ Funding Amount Dare Ventures Investors
Offering
Offers seven drone-based solutions for sectors such as agriculture, mining, defence and surveillance. It manufactures battery-operated and petrol engine-based drones.
Pune
$4.6 Mn+
Shankar Sharma, Aegis
Investment Fund, Maven India Fund, Nav Capital VCC-NAV Capital Emerging Star Fund, Zinnia Global Fund
Delhi NCR
$1.6 Mn+
Sangeet Kumar, Prateek
Jain, Bir Singh, Satish Kumar Shukla, Amit Kumar, Jalaj Dani
Ahmedabad
$660K+
ah! Ventures
Provides drone-based solutions for various industries, including oil and gas, mining, infrastructure, and agriculture. Offers training in drone piloting, building, data processing, and industrial applications
Source: Inc42, multiple secondary sources | INR to USD exchange rate is 80
Note: This is not a ranking of any kind, startups have been placed in alphabetical order. Not an exhaustive list.
Offers personalised unmanned drones that can be utilised for various functions including border surveillance, logistics and aerial mapping, among others.
Offers service with UAV ‘drones’ and a variety of sensors for efficient and reliable data acquisition and processing, providing high standards analytics to gain insights into the data.
Offering Specialises in designing and developing the AI-powered drone, INSPECTOR, for B2B and government use
Chennai $30 Mn+ Ocgrow Ventures, Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Bengaluru
$812K+
Mela Ventures, Adani Defence
Source: Inc42, multiple secondary sources | INR to USD exchange rate is 80
Note: This is not a ranking of any kind, startups have been placed in alphabetical order. Not an exhaustive list.
Offers drone-as-a-service (DaaS) solutions for surveillance and security, public safety, and construction. It also offers cloud-based software solutions to manage drone deliveries
Creates customised drones for various applications, like event photography, agricultural surveys, reconnaissance, and surveillance. Product range includes agri mapping, surveillance drones, solar panel cleaning, seed dropping, loudspeakers, UGVs, and fixed-wing VTOL drones, among others.
Offers drone-based solutions for crop protection services, farming, and yield monitoring services in the agriculture sector. Besides, it also offers medical solutions to government agencies and private organisations
Mumbai HQ
$38.3 Mn+ Funding Amount
Blacksoil, Infosys, Qualcomm Ventures, Indian Army Investors
Offering Makes UAV systems for inspection, surveillance and mapping. Its solutions are used across sectors such as defence, homeland security, mining, construction, agriculture, energy and utilities.
Mumbai $875K+
MapmyIndia
Delhi NCR
$4 Mn+ Dhanuka Agritech
Hyderabad NA
Kiran Darsi, Parusharam
Deploys drones to carry out topographic surveys, volumetric estimations, 3D modelling, and data collection.
A drone Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) that makes drones for applications in agriculture, survey and surveillance
Offers drone-based agri-intelligence and agri-automation solutions for precision agriculture and the early detection of crop disease.
Bengaluru
$21 Mn+ Pavestone Capital
Source: Inc42, multiple secondary sources | INR to USD exchange rate is 80
Note: This is not a ranking of any kind, startups have been placed in alphabetical order. Not an exhaustive list.
Specialises in swarm drones and is associated with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited to develop products for surveillance and communications
Delhi NCR HQ NA
Ahmedabad
$5.2 Mn+
Bengaluru
Delhi NCR
Bengaluru
$1.7 Mn+
Nikhil Kamath, Abhijeet Pai Investors
Gruhas Proptech
Starburst Accelerator, Venture Catalysts
Offers drone solutions for varied use cases, including survey, surveillance, and inspection, automated mapping, and precision agriculture, as well as in ecommerce, food, and medical delivery.
$120K+ Asymmetry Ventures, Techstars
Produces indigenous surveillance systems for security forces, national assets, defence and aerospace companies.
Designs, manufactures and operates autonomous drone logistics systems. It aims at enhancing the last-mile healthcare supply chains.
$3 Mn+
LetsVenture, Chiratae Ventures, Lead Angels, O2 Angels, Agility
Ventures
InfoEdge Ventures, IAN Fund, AdvantEdge Founders, Fowler Westrup, Redstart Labs, IKP, Vimson Group
A drone delivery startup largely focussed on healthcare, ecommerce, quick commerce, and agri commodity sectors.
Provides end-to-end drone-based solutions that offer insights to help businesses scale.
Delhi NCR HQ
$500K+ Funding Amount
Bengaluru NA
Investors
India Accelerator, Vinners Group, Sitics Logistics
Offering Drone logistics airline startup for last and mid-mile deliveries
Neosky
Offers drone solutions to the mining and agriculture sectors. Besides, its drones are also employed for capturing aerial images, and surveillance purposes
Delhi NCR
$325K+
We Founder Circle, Soonicorn Ventures, Chandigarh Angels Network, POD World, Qubit Capital, Zypp Electric, PedalStart, Kartik Hajela
Bengaluru
$750K+
Sara Elgi, Laxminarayana
Drone manufacturing startup based out of IIT Delhi, which works with companies to enable logistics via drones
Source: Inc42, multiple secondary sources | INR to USD exchange rate is 80
Note: This is not a ranking of any kind, startups have been placed in alphabetical order. Not an exhaustive list.
Specialises in micro drones and enables industries to easily leverage the power of aerial data by building compliant drone hardware, with proprietary software solutions.
Delhi NCR HQ
Funding Amount Investors
$68K+
Delhi NCR
$2.4 Mn+
Offering
Offers drones with embedded cameras and CPUs that can mimic human behaviour which help them achieve greater autonomy.
Source: Inc42, multiple secondary sources | INR to USD exchange rate is 80
Note: This is not a ranking of any kind, startups have been placed in alphabetical order. Not an exhaustive list.
Spearheading drone automation with emphasis on swarm technology, empowering numerous drones to autonomously and concurrently execute designated tasks, forming intricate aerial formations.
Drone Regulations 1.0
(October 2014 to November 2018)
Outright ban
Drone Regulations 2.0
(December 2018 to March 2021)
Civil Aviation Requirement for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, 2018
Digital Sky platform to start registration of drones, pilots, and operators Registration portal for online permission, 2018
Drone Ecosystem Policy Roadmap, 2019
Source: Inc42
SVAMITVA scheme – property survey program –have mapped over 45,000 villages using survey-grade PPK drones since 2020
Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2021
Liberalised National Geospatial Policy & Guidelines, 2021
Drone Regulations 3.0
(August 2021 to Nov 2023)
Drone Rules, 2021
Establishment of digital airspace mapping for drones in 2021
National Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management Policy 2.0, 2021
Certification Scheme for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, 2022
Drone Import Policy, 2022 - ban on import of drones
Drone (Amendment) Rules, 2022
Drone Shakti Scheme 2022
Launch of Kisan Drones at 100 places across the country
PLI scheme of INR 120 Cr in 2022 for drones and drone components
DGFT liberalizes and simplifies the policy for export of Drones, 2023
Source: Inc42
Drone Import Policy: The import of foreign-made drones into India is prohibited, except for use in research and development, defence, and security purposes. This policy aims to bolster the "Make in India" initiative by promoting domestic drone manufacturing.
Drone Airspace Policy: 90% of Indian airspace is designated as a green zone, permitting drones to operate up to 400 feet above ground level. In green zones, registration and security clearances are not required for non-commercial drone operations. The policy's objective is to simplify drone operations and encourage their application in diverse sectors.
Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme: This scheme allocates INR 120 Cr over three financial years to incentivise domestic production of drones and drone components. It offers a consistent 20% PLI rate for all three years, ensuring stability and predictability for manufacturers.
Drone Shakti Scheme: Introduced in the FY 2022-23 budget, this scheme aims to spur innovation and entrepreneurship in the Drone-As-A-Service (DrAAS) sector. Its goal is to enable startups to develop and provide drone-based services in various industries.
Relaxation of Drone Guidelines: The government has simplified drone regulations to increase market access for domestic startups and international investors, including easing drone operation restrictions and the approval process.
Openness to Foreign Investment: Foreign-owned or controlled Indian companies are now allowed to operate drones in India without restrictions, aiming to attract global investment and enhance technological expertise.
Investment Target of $600 Mn: The government aims to attract around $600 Mn in investments over the next three years to drive innovation, expand manufacturing capabilities, and promote drone technology adoption in various sectors.
Relaxation in Drone License Requirements: The Civil Aviation Ministry has removed the requirement for a drone pilot's license in India. Instead, a Remote Pilot Certificate (RPC) issued by a DGCA-approved drone school through the DigitalSky Platform will be required for drone operation.
Source: Inc42, Media Reports
Industries are actively involved in creating ‘Make in India’ drone products, raising awareness, and promoting STEM education to cultivate expertise in this emerging field. Ongoing advancements in drone technology such as improvements in battery life, sensor capabilities, AI-driven analytics, and payload versatility, have broadened the applications of drones, making them more adaptable and efficient for diverse industries.
Further, India's drone ecosystem has seen advancements in regulatory frameworks, partnerships, and endorsements, laying the groundwork for further growth and innovation in the sector. Ongoing government support, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's endorsement of various drone initiatives, has played a pivotal role in shaping the ecosystem.
Besides government policies and initiatives, two other factors are propelling the massive growth of the drone tech ecosystem in India.
Availability of skilled workforce: India’s pool of skilled engineers, scientists, and tech professionals has significantly contributed to the drone tech ecosystem. The availability of skilled talent has supported innovation, research and development efforts, and the creation of cutting-edge drone solutions. Additionally, the promotion of 'Aatma Nirbhar Bharat' aligns with the enthusiasm of the young workforce in the industry, eager to explore and contribute to this futuristic field.
Low entry barriers: The relatively low entry barriers into the drone tech market have encouraged startups and entrepreneurs to enter the space, fostering a culture of innovation and competition. The right combination of these factors is key to achieving exponential growth in the Indian drone industry.
Limited Funding and Concentration: Emerging drone startups in India face significant hurdles due to limited funding opportunities. The industry's early stage of development, coupled with substantial initial expenses related to drone acquisition, infrastructure development, and operational logistics, places considerable financial strain on these startups. Furthermore, investor hesitancy persists due to perceived risks associated with new technologies and the lack of established business models in the drone sector. Additionally, the funding available is concentrated among a handful of startups, further restricting financial resources for the broader range of emerging companies in the sector.
Insufficient Infrastructure: The Indian drone ecosystem is still in its early stages, facing a shortage of necessary infrastructure elements such as landing pads, charging stations, and reliable connectivity. Moreover, there exists a considerable skills gap in critical areas like operation, piloting, and maintenance, highlighting the shortage of skilled labor within the industry.
Security and Privacy Concerns: Drones present challenges involving security risks and data privacy concerns. Effectively handling their diverse applications while avoiding potential misuse is a critical and complex challenge. Additionally, gathering data in areas such as aerial photography and surveillance creates significant hurdles in implementing strong privacy and security measures. This is necessary to safeguard sensitive information from breaches or unauthorized access, highlighting the need for robust protective strategies in the drone industry.
Expensive Research and Development: Advancements in Drone Technology require ongoing innovation to uphold India's global competitiveness. Investing in research, development, and education is vital to match the pace of these swift advancements. However, the substantial expenses associated with drone equipment significantly affect smaller enterprises and individuals. India's reliance on imported drone components exposes it to risks like supply chain disruptions and price fluctuations. This dependency, coupled with limited domestic manufacturing, amplifies these challenges, making the supply chain more vulnerable and prices less predictable.
Source: Inc42, multiple secondary sources
Source: NSE, Inc42
Note:Latest stock market data as on January 8th,2024
Source: NSE, Inc42
Note:Latest
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