Garuda Aerospace Becomes 1st Drone Company To Get DGCA Approvals For Type Certification And Pilot Training The Type certification was introduced by the government of India in August 2021 under drone rules and the historic dual DGCA approval validates Garuda's tag of being India's most valuable drone startup
By Teena Jose •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
India's leading drone manufacturer, Garuda Aerospace creates history by becoming India's first drone startup to receive both Type Certification and RTPO approvals by DGCA for their indigenously designed Kisan Drones. DGCA Type certification is provided on the basis of the quality check of the drones and is issued after a rigorous testing process for the UAVs. The Type certification was introduced by the government of India in August 2021 under drone rules and the historic dual DGCA approval validates Garuda's tag of being India's most valuable drone startup.
"The elusive double certification by DGCA for Type and RPTO certification is a testament to our indigenous made in India Drone manufacturing capacities. We are powered and blessed with strong demands of manufacturing 5000 drones in the next 5 months catering to many opportunities. With receiving approvals we are certain that the necessary utilization of skills with significant sector growth will be seen. Our drones will further benefit farmers and agri- entrepreneurs by playing a major role in impacting the farmers' lives and building new-age careers for young Indians within the drone industry," said Agnishwar Jayaprakash, founder and CEO, Garuda Aerospace.
Having been awarded Type Certificate for the GA-AG model, Garuda Kisan Drone is now eligible for INR 10 lakh unsecured loans from Agri Infrastructure Fund at a 5% interest and 50-100% subsidy from the Government of India. Priced at INR 4.50 lakh, Garuda Kisan Drone is India's most affordable advanced automated agri drone which has DGCA-approved Type Certification in the under 25kg small category. ICAR, KVKs, FMTTI, ministry of agriculture and farmer welfare, and several other government agriculture bodies will now have an option of procuring high-tech Made in India Drones manufactured by Garuda Aerospace. This will lead to creating job opportunities for the youth in the near future and a vision of training 1 lakh drone pilots in the next 2 years, claimed by the company in a statement.
Former Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has invested and is also the company's Brand Ambassador. MS Dhoni has recently launched a drone named Droni. Garuda Aerospace boasts of a drone fleet of 400 drones and a well-trained team of over 500 pilots across 26 different cities. Garuda Aerospace has been termed India's most valuable startup and expects to be India's first drone Unicorn startup in the near future, the statement added.
