The adoption of drone technology is taking India by storm. According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, over a period of three years, the country will see an estimated investment of ₹5,000 crore for manufacturing of drones, which in turn will see the drone industry clock an annual turnover of ₹900 crore in fiscal 2024 and create 10,000 jobs. Talking about the government’s drone policy, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, said, “Our objective is to establish India as a global drone hub by 2030 and the Ministry of Civil Aviation is committed to facilitate industry, service delivery and consumers in achieving the aforesaid target.”
Captains of the tech industry like Keshav Murugesh, group chief executive officer of WNS applaud the government’s drone manufacturing initiatives. “By introducing all of these changes it positions India in a very different format, in the world markets. Because everyone has understood that India is now the place to go to for tech solutions,” says Murugesh in an exclusive interview to Fortune India. He adds, “The reality is that we were talking as an industry about leveraging drones for our insurance business 3 to 4 years back.” Countries like Israel, U.S., U.K. are using drones in the agriculture sector to monitor crops. The technology is even being leveraged to watch how bees fly and how bats live. “It’s just amazing what the technology is being leveraged for,” says Murugesh.