The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday unveiled its drone policy with the target of setting up at least 100 drone manufacturing units and attracting Rs 1,000 crore investment in the sector over the next five years.
The policy is aimed at making Andhra Pradesh the global destination for drone technology.
The Cabinet at its meeting chaired by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu approved the policy, under which a State Drone Corporation will be formed to promote the utilisation of drones, besides accelerating emergency and other services.
Employment for 40,000 people and training for 25,000 drone pilots are the other key targets of the policy. Investors will be offered a 20 per cent subsidy.
Briefing media persons after the Cabinet meeting, Minister for Information and Public Relations Kolusu Parthasarathi said that the state is moving fast towards transforming into a drone hub.
A Drone Development Centre will be set up at Kurnool. Based on a plug-and-play system, it will also have a training centre for drone pilots and a drone manufacturing unit.
Expressing confidence that with this policy at least 100 drone manufacturing units will come up in the state, the Minister said that this will result in the setting up of 20 drone pilot training centres and 50 skill development centres across the state.
The state government is expecting Rs 1,000 crore investments in this sector which will provide direct employment to more than 15,000 youth and indirect employment to another 25,000 people to ultimately generate Rs 3,000 crore revenue per annum, he added.
The Cabinet also approved the Andhra Pradesh Data Centre Policy aiming at adding an additional 200 MW of data and attracting investments for setting up the most modern data centres with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Parthasarathi said.
He added that the meeting also unanimously approved the Andhra Pradesh Semiconductor and Display Fab policy which will be effective between 2024 and 2029. The Centre will also extend a 50 per cent subsidy in a phased manner while the state government will provide an additional 30 per cent subsidy.
Pointing out that several semiconductor companies from the US and Europe have established their units in states like Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra, Parthasarathi expressed confidence that this policy adopted by the Cabinet on Wednesday will take Andhra Pradesh to that stage of development.
The Cabinet also gave its consent to the proposal for the draft bill to revoke the Andhra Pradesh Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act, 1982, and replace it with the Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Bill, 2024.
“We are formulating legislation to severely punish those who resort to land grabbing,” the Minister said and added that besides punishment, payment of compensation also will be imposed on such elements.