Maharashtra announces the formation of a ministerial task force to oversee its drone and unmanned systems industry, aiming to boost investment, indigenous manufacturing, and innovation across sectors including agriculture and public safety.
Maharashtra is moving to tighten coordination around its drone sector after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the state will create a ministerial task force to oversee implementation of its drone policy. The panel will be led by Electronics, Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence Minister Ashish Shelar, according to a state release cited by The Hindu BusinessLine.
Fadnavis told a meeting with drone manufacturers that the government needed a broader framework linking research and development, local component production, testing facilities, patents and subsidies spread across different policies. He said the state should build what he described as a unified policy structure for the industry, while also directing officials to give more support to indigenous manufacturing and R&D.
The announcement comes as Maharashtra has already approved a wider unmanned systems policy, according to reports by the Free Press Journal and The Times of India. That policy covers drones, robots and autonomous vehicles, and is aimed at drawing ₹25,000 crore in investment, creating more than one lakh jobs and building out centres of excellence and training capacity, including for 5,000 drone pilots.
According to those reports, the policy also targets practical uses in agriculture, infrastructure, logistics, disaster management and public safety. The government has said it wants the framework to cover the full lifecycle of the sector, from research and production to deployment, maintenance and repair, with a stated minimum life of five years unless replaced earlier.
Fadnavis also asked officials to speed up work on a planned Drone City in the Industrial City area of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and to consider temporary incentives that would help companies secure land through the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation. Shelar said the policy had been designed with young entrepreneurs in mind and that the state would strengthen testing and range facilities while supporting the wider aerospace ecosystem for defence-linked opportunities, according to the official release.
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