Neel Mehta is the co-founder of Asteria Aerospace, which has been building drones for 10 years. He welcomes the government’s efforts to boost the sector.
It has allowed his company to expand beyond building drones for the defence sector and move into new areas.
“Drone companies now have a clear growth roadmap, large order books and promising future trajectory. In India, we now have drones being used in real-world, impactful large-scale applications, while being economically viable,” says Mr Mehta.
Currently drones do all sorts of jobs in India. Police use them for monitoring the traffic and border security forces use them to search for smugglers and traffickers.
They are also increasingly common in the farming sector, where they are used to monitor the health of crops and spray them with fertiliser and pesticides.
However, despite the excitement and investment around India’s drone industry, even those in the sector advise caution.
“India has set a goal of being a hub of drones by 2030, but I think we should be cautious because we at present don’t not have an ecosystem and technology initiatives in place,” says Rajiv Kumar Narang, from the Drone Federation of India.
