The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Thursday invited applications for Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drones and drone components. It said that the last date for submitting the application form is May 20, 2022.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on Thursday has invited applications for the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for those manufacturers of drones and drone components, who have crossed the PLI eligibility threshold for the previous financial year (April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022). The deadline for submitting the application form is 23.59 hours on May 20.

As per a press release, the final list of PLI beneficiaries is expected to be released by June 30, 2022 after detailed scrutiny of their financial results and other specified documents.

Earlier on April 20, the MoCA published a provisional list of 14 PLI beneficiaries based on the financial results submitted by the PLI applicants for the ten-month period (April 1, 2021, to January 31, 2022). These included five drone manufacturers and nine drone component manufacturers.

The eligibility criteria for the PLI scheme for drones and drone components include an annual sales turnover of Rs. 2 crore for drone companies and Rs. 50 lakhs for drone components manufacturers; and the value addition of over 40 percent of sales turnover.

The PLI scheme for drones and drone components was notified on September 30, 2021.

Under the scheme, a total incentive of Rs. 120 crore is spread over three financial year which is nearly double the combined turnover of all domestic drone manufacturers in FY 2020-21.

The PLI rate is 20 percent of the value addition which is one of the highest among other PLI schemes.