Mumbai: ideaForge Technology Limited, in its latest whitepaper “How Drones are Powering the Next Wave of Industrial Growth,” reveals that drone technologies are enabling industries to achieve up to 65 percent cost savings and 80 percent time efficiency through large-scale adoption. The study highlights how sectors such as mining, energy, manufacturing, and infrastructure are achieving transformative gains in productivity, safety, and sustainability through drone deployment.
India’s industrial drone market, currently valued at over USD 650 million, is growing rapidly on the back of government incentives such as the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and regulatory advancements including the DGCA’s DigitalSky platform and BVLOS pilot programmes. The paper notes that drones built and designed in India are now performing on par with global systems, driving data-led operations and enhancing competitiveness.
Across real-world applications, enterprises are reporting substantial operational advantages. Drone-based mapping and surveying have shortened project timelines by as much as 80 per cent and reduced costs by up to 65 per cent, while improving accuracy and enabling better resource management. The study also shows how drone-generated data is transforming industrial decision-making. High-resolution mapping, volumetric analysis, and AI-based predictive maintenance are enabling smarter asset management and sustainability improvements.
In sectors such as coal and power, drone analytics have helped prevent spontaneous combustion risks, optimise inventory, and lower water consumption. Persistent aerial monitoring has strengthened site security, reduced pilferage, and eliminated the need for hazardous manual inspections. Similarly, large-scale stockpile assessments that once took days are now completed within hours with far greater precision.
The whitepaper highlights two distinct adoption models emerging across industries — outright ownership for high-frequency operations, and Drone-as-a-Service (DaaS) for enterprises seeking flexibility without upfront capital investment. The DaaS model, powered by ideaForge’s FLYGHT platform, enables continuous aerial monitoring, data collection, and analytics through a fully managed service. In several Indian mining and power sites, persistent drone surveillance under the DaaS framework has eliminated theft, improved worker safety, and ensured compliance monitoring — while significantly reducing operational overheads.
With proven results from Indian deployments and a regulatory environment that supports innovation, the paper emphasises that India is on track to become a global hub for industrial drone technology and services. As industries adopt ownership and DaaS models at scale, drones are set to become a vital infrastructure layer powering India’s next phase of industrial growth.
The full white paper is available here: How Drones are Powering the Next Wave of Industrial Growth (ATTACHED PDF KO HYPERLINK KAR DEIN HEADING KE SAATH)
ideaForge is a pioneer and the pre-eminent market leader in the Indian unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry. With a mission-first approach, we deliver cutting-edge drones engineered for unmatched performance, autonomy, and reliability, redefining possibilities in security, mapping, surveillance, and disaster response applications across militaries and enterprises.
With India’s largest operational deployment of indigenous UAVs, an ideaForge drone takes off every 3 minutes, enabling over 7,50,000 successful flights. Ranked 3rd globally among the world’s Top Dual-Use Drone Manufacturers by Drone Industry Insights (DRONEII) Global Drone Review 2024, ideaForge continues to set benchmarks in innovation and excellence.
Since pioneering India’s first VTOL UAVs in 2009, ideaForge has expanded with advanced R&D and manufacturing hubs in Navi Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, and the USA, driving the development of indigenously designed and built solutions. Backed by marquee investors, including Qualcomm, Infosys, Celesta Capital, Florintree, EXIM Bank, and Infina Finance, ideaForge is at the forefront of revolutionising unmanned systems.
