The Indian Drone market has experienced a significant increase in the overall sales of drones.

India is eyeing to become the next global drone-hub by 2030.

The Indian Drone market has experienced a significant increase in the overall sales of drones since the liberalization of regulations last year (Drone Rules 2021). Owing to which there are several reasons to keep an eye on the upcoming developments that will unleash the future of drones in India. And one of the prominent developments that have augmented the market horizon for start-ups are the possibilities:

• To boost Foreign Collaborations and Investments &
• To Open Up Opportunities for Drone Startups.

To emphasize more on how these possibilities could satisfy the assumption of why the Indian drone industry could become the next drone-hub. We decided to meet some of the most successful start-ups who have shown rigor and absolute commitment in their endeavors.

From launching prototypes to hitting the first sale on the charts. How do start-ups enjoy the benefits of successful product and process integration after all?

Spectre Solutions was at the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad where we had the opportunity to hold an interesting conversation with the team from Crystalball.ai at their IIT Hyderabad Campus in Sangareddy. Crystalball.ai is a global start-up company with its headquarters in California, US and offices in India. This interesting conversation initiated by Emmanuel Joseph – Head of International Business – Spectre Solutions, Poland with Sai Raj – Customers and Solutions & IIT Alumni, Vidya Sagar – Products and Technology & IIT Alumni, (Builds drones, AI and Analytics solutions) and Sai Kumar (a team member), gave a conspicuous insight on Crystalball.ai’s approach in successfully launching their drones that have been approved by DGCA to receive the Type Certificate for their Model V drone (https://www.crystalball.ai/model-v). (Type Certificate is an authorized drone license/certificate that is required to operate and fly commercial drones in the Indian aviation space).

The fully functional drones have already been flying in the skies providing solutions that were long awaited and well operationalized to give an exceptional outcome in terms of landscape mappings with precision and accuracy using drone services. Under their mapping and survey projects, it is evident that Crystalball.ai has been significantly helping many districts of Andhra Pradesh in cooperation with the local state government’s support in mapping regions that are widely scattered because of their topographical nature. 

During the conversation we’ve also been able to see some of the common grounds on which most of the start-ups today have been taking up social causes as an objective to develop and operationalize drone services that are directly affecting human lifestyles. Take for example Spectre Solutions’ story in Poland. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/spectre-solutions-drones-special-tasks-emmanuel-joseph-ambadipudi. For more information on Spectre Solutions Drones log on to https://spectre.solutions/.

There are different ways to make a formidable impact concerning social aspects. And the drone markets are taking extensive steps that are imperative in resolving both emerging and primitive social challenges. Start-ups have contributed exponentially by implementing drone based technological solutions all over the world and India is a top-notch among such purpose-driven service providers. To deliver qualified drone-technology based solutions, start-ups are constantly seeking areas of improvements whilst rendering high-end services based on:

• Assimilating and adopting a service approach that can impact masses.
• Provide solutions impacting people in vulnerable places.
• Identifying challenges in the markets and providing optimum solutions.
• Qualify and measure product & service deliverables against expected benchmarks. 

Drone start-ups are now looking to bridge the gap between indigenous manufacture components versus local manufacture components. However, there is a lack of access in deploying investments for such R&D projects to maintain both consistency and continuity in the long-run. Thus, the government needs to concentrate on encouraging overseas players who’re not only willing to collaborate but also are keen in investing in their R&D initiatives by setting-up fully equipped assembly lines and manufacturing units with an enhanced infrastructure. This will furthermore boost market confidence and encourage foreign companies to join hands with the local companies in India. Countries like US, Germany, Norway and Poland are some of the markets having such convictions to explore countries like India. 

With a surge of 34.4% in the number of drones starting in August 2021 till Q1 2022 and the underlying changes in the import rules. The Indian drone market has already sighted a huge attraction from international investors. It will be interesting to see India becoming the next global drone-hub by 2030.