Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia on Thursday said that production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme will create a turnover of Rs 900 crores from drone manufacturing in the next three years.

Addressing a press conference, the Union Minister said that the current size of drone manufacturing segment in India is around Rs 80 crores and the government will work towards making India a drone manufacturing hub by 2030. Among other details, Scindia said that the drone sector will see investment worth Rs 5,000 crores in India in the next three years.

“Over a period of three years, Estimated investment worth Rs 5,000 crore for manufacturing sector drones will be done which in turn will bring a turnover of Rs 900 crore, and 10,000 job opportunities will be created,” Scindia  said.

“Current drone manufacturing sector is about Rs 80 crore. Under this PLI scheme, the government is going to give Rs 120 crore incentive in next three years…which means the government is announcing one-and-half percent extra incentive than the actual size of drone manufacturing sector,” he added further.

The minister further stated that as per estimates, the drones industry may stand at Rs 180 crore by 2026.

This comes a day after the government approved the PLI scheme for the automobile and the drone industries.

The scheme has a total outlay of Rs 26,058 crore. Out of this, the auto sector will get Rs 25,938 crore, while drone production will get an outlay of Rs 120 crore.

The central government’s move comes close on the heels of the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021 notified by the civil aviation ministry late last month.