The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has released the second provisional list of 23 beneficiaries under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for drone and drone components.

These include 12 drone manufacturers and 11 drone component manufacturers. The provisional list of PLI beneficiaries has been prepared on the basis of the unaudited financial results for 2021-22 and other information. The shortlisted beneficiaries have crossed the eligibility criteria related to sales revenue and value addition in FY 2021-22.

List of shortlisted drone manufacturers:

Aarav Unmanned Systems, Bengaluru, Karnataka

Asteria Aerospace, Bengaluru, Karnataka

Dhaksha Unmanned Systems, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

EndureAir Systems, Noida, Uttar Pradesh

Garuda Aerospace, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Ideaforge Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra

IoTechWorld Avigation, Gurugram, Haryana

Omnipresent Robot Technologies, Gurugram, Haryana

Raphe Mphibr, Noida, Uttar Pradesh

Roter Precision Instruments, Roorkee, Uttarakhand

Sagar Defence Engineering, Pune, Maharashtra

Throttle Aerospace Systems, Bengaluru, Karnataka 

List of shortlisted drone component manufacturers 

Absolute Composites, Bengaluru, Karnataka

Adani-Elbit Advanced Systems India, Hyderabad, Telangana

Adroitec Information Systems, New Delhi

Alpha Design Technologies, Bengaluru, Karnataka

Dynamake Engineering, Hyderabad, Telangana

Imaginarium Rapid, Mumbai, Maharashtra

SASMOS HET Technologies, Bengaluru, Karnataka

Servocontrols Aerospace India, Belagavi, Karnataka

Valdel Advanced Technologies, Bengaluru, Karnataka

ZMotion Autonomous Systems, Bengaluru, Karnataka

Zuppa Geo Navigation Technologies, Chennai, Tamil Nadu

The combined annual sales turnover of the above mentioned companies has increased from Rs. 88 crore in FY 2020-21 to Rs. 319 crore (unaudited) in FY 2021-22.

The eligibility criteria for the PLI scheme for drones and drone components includes an annual sales turnover of Rs. 2 crore for drone companies and Rs. 50 lakhs for drone components manufacturers; and value addition of over 40% of sales turnover.

The PLI scheme for drones and drone components was notified on 30th September 2021. Under the scheme, a total incentive of Rs. 120 crore is spread over three financial years which is nearly double the combined turnover of all domestic drone manufacturers in FY 2020-21. The PLI rate is 20% of the value addition which is one of the highest among other PLI schemes.

A unique feature of the drone PLI scheme is that the manufacturers who fail to meet the value addition threshold in 2021-22 will be allowed to claim the lost incentive in the subsequent year if they make up the shortfall in 2022-23.