Unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs – also known as drones – have long been welcomed across industries. Businesses have realized that drones have multiple commercial applications, some of which go beyond basic surveillance, photography, or videos, and they are already using them to transform daily work in some industries.

By Swapnik Jakkampudi

Drones have now forayed in a variety of sectors, primarily owing to robust investment support and loosening regulations. Responding to the rapidly evolving technology, companies are creating new business and operating models. In India, application of commercial drones has cuts across sectors such as construction, education, law enforcement, media and entertainment, precision agriculture, surveying and mapping, and inspection and monitoring.

In fact, Drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have by far been one of the most looked up to and promising technologies emerging from the Fourth Industrial Revolution. As per an industry report, the market for UAVs in India is expected to touch xxx million by end of 2022.

Pandemic has made sectors embrace this technology even faster
Pandemic has made one thing clear, that drones are the future. The pandemic has pushed for digitisation. With this digital shift there is immense opportunity for the drone industry to flourish and grow in the years to come.Businesses across all verticals have started realising the upsides which are the cost efficiency, time saving and technological advancements that drones can weave into a business. Not just commercial but today various examples of drones in development projects show the possibilities of using them in the field of humanitarian aid and environmental protection.

Changing face of the healthcare and disaster management
With the trends induced by the pandemic, the importance of drone technology is especially realised in sectors like rural healthcare and providing relief package for disaster recovery. With a high tech make over in these spaces, drones will help overcome a number of big challenges. The Covid-19 pandemic has raised a red flag. Drones can also come to the aid of healthcare workers while delivering human organs for transplant. While there may be plenty of donors to meet the requirements, what often becomes a barrier is that available organs often don’t reach desperate patients.
Also few cities are turning to this technology as a tool for disaster response. In many countries, Drones are deployed to help find people that are in need of assistance. They have also been used to create disaster maps and assess damage after events like hurricanes and earthquakes. Armed with technology such as infrared cameras, and AR technology, it can also be used to create heat maps that can help fire-fighters locate hotspots. These can also help locate people that need rescue and help with relief package deliveries where natural disasters strike.

Time saving & cost effective
Besides, drones ability to drive efficiency, it is also time saving and cost effective. This technology will surely disrupt the traditional methods of operation and infuse more efficiency across sectors. Also with the government’s empowering policy on drone operation, it is only a matter of time before drones become mainstream and an integral part for different businesses.
Drones will surely change the face of how sectors operate in the near future. Drones can help in advancement of remote and inaccessible areas along with giving agriculture of our country a bigger platform.

Create employment opportunities
The growing use of drones will also exponentially boost the demand for qualified professionals who can build, manage, service and operate them. The Drone Federation of India has indicated that under the favourable climate for the drone industry there are approximately 100 drone manufacturers, at least 200 drone service providers and over 1 lakh drone pilots in India. This surely indicates that it will present immense job opportunities. Further after the policy regarding the drone rules will come into being, drone sector alone will generate 5-7 lakh job opportunities.
Also with the industry maturing, the drone job market within it is becoming increasingly multifaceted. As a matter of fact, companies are not just competing to advance the latest UAV technology, but also to grab the very best talent–pilots, UAV operators, engineers, and data processing and analysis experts. Moreover, potential positions range from full-time to contract-based work, even internships across many industries.

Optistic environment and a promising future

2021 has been a promising year for UAVs as it created an optimistic environment with the introduction of new drones rules and PLI scheme. Tiding over all odds, Drone sector is one such sector that has been consistently picking up which is a positive sign for the growth and economy picking up. Many companies in India have signed new deals to kick off large-scale, commercial B2B drone operations. As most of the companies operating in this sector primarily comprise of start ups, they are looking up to the government to simplify policies and provide better support that would help them scale up manufacturing and leverage the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

Road ahead
The government needs to realise that the drone Industry in India is still at a nascent stage and very small and mostly run by very small start-ups, therefore, the govt. should announce special Drone VC fund, reduction in GST, R&D grants, tax exemptions, import and export benefits and infrastructure development grants for start-ups and SMEs to help the domestic industry grow faster than the global counterparts and serve not only the domestic market but the global market.

Also one of the important aspect for faster adoption of this technology is that volumes are the need of the hour to bring down the costs. Moreover, government should lay down clear export and import policies which are in favour of the sector to keep with the momentum and tap on global opportunities.

Today, both enterprises and the government are realising the economic and social opportunities and sustainability that UAVs can offer. The faster adoption of UAVs is therefore critical to realise the potential of this technology.

And there is no doubt that this will also turn the drone segment into a generator of employment and economic growth primarily owing to its wide scope, flexibility, and ease of use, particularly in the country’s far-flung and remote areas.So the market has great potential and will require trained professionals to realise the aim of making India the global drone hub by 2030.

The yearly sales turnover of the drone manufacturing industry is expected to rise from INR 60 crore in 2020-21 to approximately INR 900 crore in FY 2023-24. In terms of jobs the sector will create over 10,000 direct jobs over the next three years. The drone services industry (operations, logistics, data processing, traffic management etc.) is far bigger in scale. It is expected to see the upward scale over INR 30,000 crore in coming three years. The drone services industry has the potential to generate over five lakh jobs in three years.

-The writer is Co-founder of Skye Air Mobility