Fees for drone pilot coaching course will lower in 4 months: Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia

By PTI

NEW DELHI: Fees for drone pilot coaching course will lower throughout the subsequent 3-4 months because the variety of faculties offering this course are going to extend, Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia mentioned on Tuesday.

A farmer — throughout a digital interplay with Scindia on drones — raised the difficulty of excessive charges for a drone pilot coaching course. Scindia mentioned, “You said the fees of a drone pilot course is currently quite high. You should not worry at all.”

In the final 5 months, aviation regulator DGCA has licensed 23 faculties for coaching drone pilots, he added. “As the number of schools keep increasing, the cost of training drone pilots will keep decreasing,” he mentioned.

The minister gave the instance of cell phone’s value and the way it has decreased regularly through the years in India. “Therefore, as the number of schools increase, the cost of training drone pilots will also decrease. Within the next 3-4 months, you will see that revolution too as we keep increasing the number of such schools,” the minister acknowledged.

Scindia mentioned that the nation undoubtedly wants extra drone pilots and it is for that reason that their certification course of has been fully decentralised. “So, now, the DGCA will only certify drone schools, and it is the drone school concerned which will grant certificates to pilots. We have completely removed bureaucracy from this process,” he famous.

The Civil Aviation Ministry had earlier this month invited second spherical of functions for the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme that was introduced final 12 months to spice up drone manufacturing in India.

The first spherical of functions for this scheme have been invited on March 10 and its outcomes have been introduced on April 20, whereby Adani Group’s three way partnership firm with Israeli agency Elbit, IdeaForge Technology, and 12 different drone firms have been chosen as beneficiaries.

The ministry had on September 16, 2021, introduced the PLI scheme for drones and drone elements with an allocation of Rs 120 crore unfold over three monetary years.

Under the PLI scheme, the inducement for a producer of drones and drone elements shall be 20 % of the “value addition” made by the corporate in the course of the subsequent three years. The worth addition is calculated because the annual gross sales income from drones and drone elements (web of GST) minus the acquisition value (web of GST) of drone and drone elements.