Big tech gains, But it’ll take India 8 years to build proper UAV ecosystem: Pawan Goenka

The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have done path-breaking research on drones, but it will take 7-8 years before India can become self-reliant in the assembly of UAVs, said Dr Pawan Goenka, Steering Committee head and chairman of the board of governors, IIT Madras. For the first time, all the 23 IITs, are coming together for an R&D fair to be held on October 14-15, 2022. Goenka heads the R&D committee which is taking this initiative forward.

Speaking to ET, the former IIT-Kanpur alumni said, “As of today, all components required for the assembly of drones are imported. There is significant effort being put in by the GOI, led by the Ministry of Electronics and Information technology (MEITY) and the Steering Committee for Advancing Local Value-Add and Exports (SCALE), where we are trying to see how we can localise the components of drones, whether it is a propeller system, composites or cameras. We are working on a system to slowly create an industry for this subsystem which then feeds into the assembly of the drones. This is not a two-year effort, it probably may take up to 7-8 years. GoI is supporting the drone manufacturing ecosystem through the dedicated PLI.”