India needs around 1 lakh drone pilots, anyone after class XII can apply: Scindia

India will need approximately one lakh drone pilots in the coming years, Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on May 10. A total of 12 central ministries are trying to boost the indigenous demand for drone services in the country. 

"We are taking the drone sector forward on three wheels. The first wheel is policy. You have seen how fast we are implementing the policy," Scindia said at a Niti Aayog event here. The second wheel is to create incentives, he said.

Got a chance to meet & interact with the young &energetic drone community at the launch of @NITIAayog's Experience Studio on Drones.Under the leadership of PM Sh @narendramodi ji & the dynamism of our youth,India will rise rapidly to become a global drone hub by 2030.@amitabhk87 pic.twitter.com/jFlhY8wQ1b — Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (@JM_Scindia) May 10, 2022

"The PLI (production-linked incentive) scheme, which has been implemented under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will give a fresh boost to manufacturing and services in the drone sector," the minister added.

The PLI scheme was introduced in September 2021 as a follow-through of the liberalized Drone Rules, 2021 released by the ministry on August 25 last year.

Scindia said the third wheel is to create indigenous demand and the 12 ministries have tried to create that demand. Today, someone who has passed the Class-XII exam can be trained as a drone pilot and no college degrees are required for it, he pointed out.

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"With two-three months of training, this person is in his or her job as a drone pilot with a monthly salary of around Rs 30,000," the minister said. "We need close to a lakh drone pilots in the years to come. So the opportunity is tremendous," he added.

Scindia had, on September 16 last year, said the Indian drone industry will see a turnover of up to Rs 15,000 crore by 2026.

The first batch of applications for the PLI scheme was invited on March 10 and the results were announced on April 20, wherein Adani Group's joint venture company with Israeli firm Elbit, IdeaForge Technology, and 12 other drone companies were selected as the beneficiaries. The civil aviation ministry invited the second batch of applications for the scheme on May 5. 

(With inputs from PTI)

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