It's in drones-as-a-service that India will dominate the industry

India’s drones – and the intelligence they bring – are set to fly far beyond the nation’s borders. (Representative image)

In the past three decades, India has successfully ridden wave after wave of technological revolutions – Y2K, the telecom boom, and the IT & BPO explosion. Each time, the country didn’t just catch up with the world; it led it. Now, India's drone sector stands at the edge of the next defining revolution – one that will shape not just its own skies, but those of the world.

With a compelling mix of manufacturing muscle, data-processing prowess, and global supply chain alignment, India is uniquely poised to become the drone capital of the world.

India’s drone industry has grown at an extraordinary pace. In FY2022-23 alone, the sector was valued at ₹3,500 crores ($430 million) and is projected to reach ₹30,000 crores ($3.7 billion) by 2026, with a CAGR of more than 80%.

India’s emergence as a drone powerhouse is driven by a few key policy shifts. The Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, the Drone Rules 2021, and the January 2022 ban on imported commercial drones further accelerated indigenous innovation. India is shifting from being a net importer to a serious contender in the global drone export market.

One of the most promising frontiers for drone usage is agriculture, where India’s 1.4 billion-strong population, with over 140 million farmers, gives it a unique edge. Drones can collect high-resolution visual, thermal, and multispectral data on crops, soil, pests, and diseases. Combined with India’s vastly diverse crop cycles, this means billions of data points from year-round data cycles on which AI models can be trained.

This data, when processed using machine learning, becomes a powerful tool, not just for local farmers but for global food systems. A disease affecting maize in Nigeria may have already been seen and analyzed in India’s maize belts, offering predictive insights that can be exported as easily as the hardware itself.

Drones aren’t just flying cameras – they are mobile edge devices capable of integrating into industrial systems like surveillance, mining, disaster response, and urban infrastructure. Their mobility allows for highly granular data collection, whether it’s crowd monitoring at large gatherings like the Kumbh Mela, surveying flood damage, or assessing infrastructure across vast factory sites.

India’s drone strategy aligns perfectly with the evolving global supply chain model known as "China Plus One." For decades, global firms have heavily relied on China for components and manufacturing. But increasing geopolitical tensions, COVID-era supply disruptions, and rising labor costs have forced companies to diversify. Companies like Apple, Samsung, and LG are moving parts of their operations to India. The global drone market, estimated at $30 billion in 2023, is expected to surpass $55 billion by 2030. Although most drone parts in India are imported, this is slowly changing thanks to PLI schemes and Make-in-India initiatives. India can now offer end-to-end drone solutions: design, manufacturing, deployment, and data analytics.

In fact, it’s drones-as-a-service that will be India’s hidden superpower. With a deep bench of data scientists, AI engineers, and geospatial analysts, India has the intellectual infrastructure to interpret and apply the data drones gather. The combination of low-cost manufacturing, world-class analytics, and a large English-speaking population creates a full-stack capability unmatched by most other nations.

Imagine a drone built in India being flown over farms in Brazil or Indonesia, with the data processed back in a center in Bangalore, and insights delivered to a global agri-commodity firm based in North America. This is not a hypothetical scenario – it is a near-future model that combines India’s manufacturing capacity, skilled drone pilots, and data analytics ecosystem into a seamless global service.

Drones, then, are not just another technology play for India – they are the launchpad for its next global leap. From crop fields in Punjab to plantations in South America, from industries in Odisha to mines in Africa, India’s drones – and the intelligence they bring – are set to fly far beyond the nation’s borders. In doing so, they will help redefine how the world benefits from the skies.