Mumbai: Last year, many people who came out on the streets in Mumbai’s Dharavi and Worli areas must have been shocked to see a mysterious flying object from above, in which they were instructed by the Mumbai Police to “maintain social distancing”. But soon, Indian cities and towns may get used to drone Buzzing in the sky, delivering, monitoring or even spraying insecticides.

Drone manufacturers and service providers are ramping up their product offerings and hiring to meet the spurt in demand, fueled by the government’s production-linked incentives to boost production and bring down drone prices. PLI) is expected to accelerate with the scheme.

Drone companies in India like Aarav Unmanned System, ideaforge, Green Robotics, Skylark Drones, and Sky Air Mobility, said that their sales have grown 3-5 times in the past year, and they are all increasing the size of their team. Several international drone manufacturers are also eyeing the market, said Mugilan Thiru Ramasamy, chief executive officer. skylark drone Which provides software for drones. “We are hopeful that they will set up shop in India soon.”

Aarav Unmanned Systems, a Bengaluru-based drone manufacturing and end-to-end drone services company, plans to add 500-600 people next year. CEO Vipul Singh said most of those hired would be drone pilots, while some additions would be made to the engineering and fabrication manufacturing teams.

The company, which supplies drones to Tata Steel and the national mapping and surveying agency Survey of India, said the demand had grown five-fold last year.

Mumbai-based drone maker, IdeaForge Technology, plans to add 20-30% more people to its team of around 350 in the coming months. Its co-founder and CEO Ankit Mehta said that for every new person it hires, at least four more jobs will be created in the ecosystem.

Bengaluru-based Skylark Drones, which saw a 3-fold increase in sales since last year, plans to double its team of 30. It plans to launch more services around worksite intelligence, and launch drone pilot training programs in partnership with CEO, Drone Pilot Training Institutes. Ramasamy said.

Industry insiders said that a major part of the new jobs being generated in the industry is in the manufacturing side and for drone pilots, jobs in allied services like drone photography, drone maintenance and survey mapping will open soon.

Rituparna Chakraborty, executive vice president of TeamLease Services, said drone photographer and filmmaker, drone 3-D modeler, drone pilot trainer, precision agriculture surveyor, drone surveillance, search and rescue, and wildlife conservation jobs will also open up. in this area over the long term.

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Rs 120 crore PLI scheme for drones and drone components Stakeholders said that while domestic manufacturing will help boost and create jobs, the real achievement will be to develop a supplier ecosystem for the industry in India.

Several drone manufacturers ET spoke to said they rely on imports from countries such as China, the US and Germany for a large number of components, including motors, communication systems and cameras.

“There is a need to attract a lot of international component vendors to come and invest in production capacity in India,” said Mehta of IdeaForge. At present, foreign suppliers have little incentive to set up operations in India. But with the PLI plan set to encourage new use cases and applications, the demand for drones is expected to increase in the coming months and years.