By Subramani Ra Mancombu

Copyright thehindubusinessline

AVPL Ltd (AITMC Ventures Limited International), an integrated agri-drone company, is looking at indigenising the drone ecosystem in the country in league with component manufacturers, said Preet Sandhu, co-founder and Chairperson, AVPL Ltd.

In this regard, it has set up the AVPL Future Tech Park at Hisar in Haryana, where component manufacturers can set up their units to indigenise drone components. She told businessline in an online interaction that every drone company is looking forward to indigenisation, and the company was also working towards it.

“We have worked on the flight controller. We are working on small parts. We have 3D printers also. We have achieved 75 per cent of indigenisation,” said Sandhu, who has come up with Invisible Bharat 5.0 to help start-ups come with got-market plans. The company has 11-½ acres of land in the Hisar facility.

However, it will take time. The AVPL Future Tech Park can help achieve the vision of indigenisation of drones, said the company’s co-founder and chairperson.

Assuring orders, place

“We have created this park, and we are inviting all the component manufacturers. They will come, they will put up everything, and then we will work together on a royalty basis, on a share basis, on the component manufacturing. We are not saying that we are getting into component manufacturing,” said Sandhu, adding the park has all the facilities for making components.

“We have created the facilities. …We are assuring orders, we are assuring the place there, we are assuring all the required facilities, and we are ready to share the revenues also,” she said.

AVPL Ltd has 10 drone training bases, including one approved by the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The DGCA-approved base has 10 flying zones. “We are the only company to have the largest number of bases,” said the company’s co-founder and chairperson.

AVPL Limited and its subsidiary SPH together have 20 remote pilot training organisations (RPTOs). They have flying zones that are approved. “In the coming year, we plan to set up 50 more RPTOs,” she said, adding that these will come up in its 70 locations.

35 service centres

The company has over 35 drone service centres, and these are called Global Skill and Incubation and World Skill and Incubation hubs.

“These centres have become our drone service centres, post-sales of drones. We have a chain of 70 centres where drone service is available,” she said, adding that the company has a research and development facility in Gurugram for drone manufacturing.

The company has a 16,000 sq ft manufacturing facility coming up in Bihta, Bihar. This will produce 24,000 drones annually. As the drone sector lacks skilled manpower, AVPL Ltd views incubation and skill hubs as a solution to meet the increasing demand.

“AVPL has teamed up with the Uttar Pradesh government to run 17 Industrial Training Institutes and 3 Polytechnic Colleges for 20 years under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP). We call these world incubation and skill hubs,” said Sandhu.

Training trainers

The company has set up Aero Vision Labs in engineering colleges, which are affiliated to the All India Council of Technical Education. “Over 1,000 students are taught at these hubs and labs,” she said.

The company has begun “training trainers”, where candidates undergo training to become certified trainers. “So far, we have trained 43 trainers, who can now train candidates. We have begun scouting for teachers who can train others,” she said.

The company has a curriculum for the three-month Kisan Drone Operator course. This includes 90 hours of on-the-job training. “Knowledge on spraying, fertilizers, pesticides and other agricultural practices is imparted to the students,” said Sandhu.

AVPL, which is present across 70 locations in 16 States, is looking to create drone and agri entrepreneurs to serve farmers.

Creating drone and agri entrepreneurs will help to serve the needs of marginal farmers, who cannot buy drones. “There should be one drone entrepreneur and one agri-entrepreneur per village. This is our vision,” said the company’s co-founder and chairperson.

1 entrepreneur per village

The company is helping such entrepreneurs to avail of loans from Nabard and is trying to cover all krishi vigyan kendras, panchayats and farmer-producer organisations.

On the company signing an agreement with fertilizer major IFFCO to spray pesticides over 50 lakh hectares across 8 states, Sandhu said it proved to be a cost-ineffective business model for the company since those engaged in spraying have to be provided boarding and lodging.

“We have curated the model where we are trying to ensure there is at least one drone entrepreneur in every village,” she said.

The company’s plans to launch its drone faced some “technical” issues with the software. The company has filed two more applications with the DGCA.

AVPL Limited taps aggregator Drone Planet for maintenance and repair of drones, besides selling parts. The company is working with IIT, Ropar, and IIT, Kanpur, in research and development. “We are working with the Haryana Agriculture Department and are training 300 farmers,” said Sandhu, who is working with Start-up Stairs, which helps in seed funding and market linkage for start-ups.

Published on October 2, 2025