Ghaziabad’s heritage industrial testing house gives India’s drone manufacturing a leg-up
India's National Test House, a 105-year-old facility, is boosting the country's drone industry with affordable certification services, helping it grow rapidly.
A 105-year-old industrial testing facility, the National Test House (NTH), which once kept British-era railways chugging, is now helping India’s drone industry take off with its cutting-edge, cost-effective certification process.
Manufacturers of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) need a certification that every drone they make conforms to standards of safety and quality set by the directorate general of civil aviation.
The heritage NTH, a body under the consumer affairs ministry founded in 1919, is attracting a lot of small, micro and medium enterprises making drones because of its affordable fees and reliability, an official said.
India’s drone economy is expanding rapidly, from health care delivery, entertainment, policing and transportation to agriculture, with both state-run agencies and private firms rolling out a wide range of applications and services.
“The NTH’s certification rates are way cheaper and it is the only government agency authorised to certify drones, and is helping to promote the drone sector,” said Nidhi Khare, Union consumer affairs secretary.
The NTH, which has a range of latest equipment, charges approximately ₹1-1.5 lakh as certification fees, compared to market rates of nearly ₹10-12 lakh. Currently, there are only a few private certification agencies, such as SGS India Pvt. Ltd, TQ Cert Services Pvt. Ltd and Bureau Veritas (India) Pvt. Ltd.
The Indian drone industry is estimated to grow from approximately ₹60 crore in 2020-21 to nearly ₹900 crore by 2024-25, according data from the civil aviation ministry data.
To be sure, there are issues to sort out — the quality of drones, their battery efficiencies, safety, emissions and pricing for end-users. This is why certification is crucial. The government wants to make India a global drone hub by 2030.
NTH has been able to offer cheaper rates because it is an integrated drone certification facility, said Alok Srivastava, director-general of the Ghaziabad-based NTH. This means that manufacturers don’t need to go to different centres to test different components.
According to Khare, state agencies have emerged as a large procurer of drones. “With NTH, they can be assured of the quality of drone procured for various crucial activities.” For instance, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Assam extensively use drones to detect illegal activities in reserve forests and national wildlife sanctuaries, according to their official press releases.
The state-owned Coal India, the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute, the National Highways Authority of India, and the Central Railways also routinely use drones to manage their operations.
The government’s production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for drone manufacturers has an outlay of ₹120 crore. Twenty-three firms have qualified for benefits under the scheme, of which 12 are drone manufacturers and 11 are component makers. Most of these are micro, small and medium enterprises.
NTH’s head of certification, Raj Kumar Rao, said the organisation currently has 20 applications lined up. These firms include Vimana Aerospace Technology LLP, Hubble Fly Technologist PVT, Trustek Industries Pvt Ltd and Roank Shah Ltd, among others. NTH received its first drone model for certification from Gurugram-based BharatRohan Airborn Innovations in April.
“The drone industry is set to grow exponentially. Competitive testing and certification facilities will contribute to that growth,” said Anil Prasanna of Marcus Aviation, a drone firm.
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