Are drones the new Pushpak Viman?
Humans love flying as symbolized in eternal stories such as the Pushpak Viman, before modern aircraft technology arrived. But when we remove the human physically, from the flying object, we enter the realm of drones. In this edition we would discuss the innovation and growth possibilities within the drone ecosystem in India.
Simplistically, drones are mechanical flying objects, either self propelled or remote operated, which can aid humans in certain tasks. Tasks which are typically dirty, dull, hazardous and repetitive are best suited to be operationalized through drones. E.g. When humans have to perform visual inspections in either difficult environments (Electric/telecom towers/mines) or over a large geographical area (agricultural farm/forest). Not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively drones can improve the outcomes. E.g. Urban aerial mapping through drones can be of much higher resolution than commercially available satellite imagery.
A stringent permission driven regime was institutionalized since 2014 for drone operations in India. The knee jerk reaction of de-facto banning use of drones was due to threat perception as assessed by the security agencies. One of the marketing gimmicks, in which a drone was choreographed delivering pizzas in a metro city, set off alarm bells within the security apparatus with the obvious argument of a pizza being replaced with an explosive. The unintended consequence of prioritizing threat mitigation was postponement of creation of a value-adding drone ecosystem in India. It slowed innovation in the sector and caused quite a few drone-focused startups to shut shop or move out of India.
This is likely to change as a new set of liberalized rules were notified in Aug 2021. The rules envision a trust based, self certification, non intrusive monitoring mechanism.. This is enabled by classification of drones based on their weight starting from Nano drones (<250 gms) moving up to Large drones (>150 kgs). All airworthy certified drones would possess a unique identification number upon registering with the ‘digital sky platform’.
Digital sky platform envisions the airspace in green, yellow and red. There is no restriction in flying drones up to 400 ft below a certain weight (< 500 Kg) in the green zone. Red & yellow zones (<12 km) are defined based on the proximity to an airport. Prior permission is required for operating a drone in these zones. If you check the digital sky map here, it appears that the first set of drone implementations would happen outside city areas, as invariably a 12 km radius across a tier 2 city covers almost the whole of it.
The rules have also streamlined the certified ‘remote pilot license’ process. This opens a new avenue for youth to be certified as a drone pilot for a class of drones based on his/her training. Given the drone population is going to increase, correspondingly humans required to operate them would increase.
Apart from the drone operation rules, the government has also initiated a production linked incentive (PLI) for the nascent drone manufacturing industry in India. The eligibility criteria is pegged to be a minimum of 40% value addition to be performed by an Indian manufacturer.
Drone enthusiasts claim long term ROI on drone implementation in an enterprise is not only high but also enables capturing a new set of data. It appears that the drone ecosystem in India is again picking up, after the brief interlude. This week two drone
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Ecosystem Ventures This Week
Key Highlights – Clients
We are happy to onboard a Pune-based hyper intelligence SaaS platform.
It is an Information Digitization Technology and SaaS-based platform that can automate any business process and related documents using the technologies such as Image, Text & Video Analysis, Pattern Recognition, Automation using Web & Windows Recorder, Automation over Citrix Environment and powered with RPA, OCR, NLP, AI & Machine Learning.
We look forward to working with them and wish them all the best for a bright future.
Startup Funding Summary
Amagi, Bengaluru-based media technology provider, has raised $100 Mn in a funding from General Atlantic, Accel, Norwest Venture Partners and Avataar Venture Partners – Read More
Clove Dental, Delhi-based healthtech startup, has raised $66 Mn in a funding from Investcorp, Tybourne Capital Management, SeaLink Capital Partners and other HNIs – Read More
Keka, Hyderabad-based HRtech startup, has raised $57 Mn in Series A funding from WestBridge Capital – Read More
Masai School, Bengaluru-based edtech startup, has raised $10 Mn in Series B funding from Omidyar Network, India Quotient, Unitus Ventures, Mithali Raj and Bhaichung Bhutia – Read More
Supertails, Bengaluru-based pet-care startup, has raised $10 Mn in Series A funding from Fireside Ventures, Saama Capital and DSG Consumer Partners, Kunal Shah, Sanjay Kapoor, Varun Alagh, Ankit Nagori and Shashank Mehta – Read More
M&A Snippets
Riyadh-based a joint stock company SALIC has acquired minority stake in Gurugram-based rice milling company LT Foods for $48 Mn – Read More
Mumbai-based logistics company Allcargo Logistics will acquire Hyderabad-based logistics
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