Designing Drone Success: Tech, Talent & Execution

In an exclusive interview with Industry Outlook, Anand Sri Ganesh, CEO at NSRCEL shares his vision for India’s drone technology ecosystem. He discusses how regulatory clarity, infrastructure investment, and strong IP frameworks are essential to unlock innovation; how startups must balance hardware, software, and commercialization. Anand Sri Ganesh, CEO at NSRCEL, IIM Bangalore, is a key figure in shaping India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. An alumnus of IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad, he has held leadership roles at PepsiCo, HP, Manthan, and served as Chief Digital Officer at BRIDGEi2i Analytics Solutions. At NSRCEL, he focuses on transforming ideas into ventures by bridging academia with industry and connecting startups to investors, corporates, and policy networks. His approach underscores how technology, talent, and execution come together to drive entrepreneurial success.

What is the scenario of the Drone tech startup and innovation in India is like?

India's drone tech and deeptech startup landscape is in the midst of a transformative period, fueled by both innovation as well as strategic policy intervention. While there is ongoing competition at the global level, Indian startups are now developing clusters of excellence around climate tech, precision agriculture, as well as aerial logistics—showing the leadership globally.

The Vision here is not about the competition of "India vs. the world," but an opportunity for collaboration and co-creation. Here incubators plays a major role by enabling partnerships, technology transfer, and cross-border startup collaboration. Areas such as Cybersecurity, insurance technology, and enhanced agri-tech present high prospects for international collaborations while benefiting from India's vast and vibrant market.

On the capital side, the picture is diverse. While seed funding is on the rise, driven by state support, angel groups, and corporate awards - equity funding from institutional investors is still cautious, particularly in asset-intensive and hardware-driven industries. But new specialized VCs and other sources of capital are coming into play to support deep-tech innovation with exciting potential for long-term growth.

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What kind of talent gap do you see in the drone industry? How can academia and innovation help bridge it?

The concept of a "talent gap" in the drone sector tends to be more complicated than it is presented. As far as we can observe, there is certainly no shortage of top-tier talent, particularly from leading institutions. There are many undergraduate students who are making significant contributions to leading-edge research and publications, highlighting the potential for the future industry. The issue is more related to redirecting this talent into high-impact, strategic functions within the drone and deep-tech ecosystem.

A prime example of such synergy is the manner in which NSRCEL, IIM Bangalore incubator, collaborates with startups to link them up with talented young professionals via early-stage recruitment, internship initiatives, and mentorship. Such platforms bridge the divide between academic prowess and industry implementation, especially in new-tech areas such as drones, climate technology, and precision hardware.

Startups such as Nautical Wings (developing integrated propulsion units for OEMs like ideaForge and TASL), AquaAirX (building amphibious drones for maritime and oil & gas inspections), and Indronovation Labs (working on UAV fleets and swarms for agriculture, mining, and security) showcase how talent can be directed toward solving real-world problems. The way forward is not about fixing a “meltdown” but about aligning abundant talent with opportunity , something academia and innovation ecosystems can enable through translational research, industry collaborations, and experiential learning.

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Beyond funding, what are investors looking for from drone entrepreneurs like IP, manufacturing capabilities and safety standards?

Although investment is an important element, it's not the sole consideration. The most crucial quality is having strong IP ownership, solid manufacturing capacity, and a sharp emphasis on safety and regulatory compliance. But even beyond these, what gets overlooked is the awareness gap for the wider implications of drone technology. To minimize this reality, it is crucial to generate programs which can create insights on the global developments of the industry. This can create ecosystem which will be giving exposure to the young entrepreneurs.

At present we are able to see such young entrepreneur with leadership abilities who are eager to learn and adapt, that consciousness in itself is a magnet for innovation and investors register that energy and vision as much as business performance.

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What are the biggest regulatory and infrastructure bottlenecks for drone startups today?

The roadblocks in the world of drone startups are more about layered, complicated requirements and less about heavy-handed restrictions, especially with regards to certifications, airworthiness standards, and native readiness. Most drone applications, especially defense, logistics, or climate action require specific stipulations on quality, maintenance, and deployment that aren't necessarily built into the current infrastructure. For instance, entrepreneurs require access to test beds, prototyping facilities, supplier networks, and certification channels, many of which are still emerging.

That being said, at present we can see many changes in the environment. Some corporates are now offering technical sandboxes and open infrastructure for validation and testing, even without direct partnerships. This allows startups to refine their payloads, data transmission, and systems performance before formal certification or commercialization stages. It’s a work in progress across three fronts—regulatory readiness, infrastructure accessibility, and startup-industry collaboration. As an emerging sector, we’re all learning and building together, but the momentum is clearly positive.

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What policy changes do you believe will bring the acceleration in Indian drone industry?

There is no need for policy at present. It can only step in where there is evident market failure either when innovators are subject to excessive friction or when the market cannot implement new technologies. At present, India's drone industry is developing rapidly and organically with growing adoption in sectors such as agriculture, logistics, defense, and disaster relief. In that case, minimum policy interference is usually best option.

But there is room for enabling interventions. For instance, NSRCEL is performing admirably by incubating deeptech and drone startups, exposing them to networks, resources, and early-stage market access. Analogous ecosystem-scale support, incentivized through light-touch policy interventions—such as regulatory sandboxes, access to government-conducted test infrastructure, and strategic procurement incentives, which can drive adoption in high-priority areas without overregulating innovation.

Essentially, the policy function today is less about leading and more about supporting from the sidelines establishing conditions under which innovation is likely to flourish rather than shaping the innovation itself.

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From your vantage point, how do you see India's drone ecosystem evolving over next 5 to 6 years?

I feel that we must consider India's drone industry not as one new innovation, but as the emergence of a full-fledged industry ecosystem—much like how the automotive or aviation industries developed. Now, we are perhaps only concentrating on unmanned flying vehicles, but the actual change will happen when we see the development of OEMs, component makers, MSMEs, service companies, and system integrators coming together across applications.

In the next 5–6 years, India's drone industry will evolve into what is known as a sunrise industry. In other words, this industry will create huge job opportunities. There will be expansion in skilling up and creating the value chain. This field can also help is manufacturing and repairing the high-value data systems. All this together will assist in emergence of side industries such as financial services providing working capital and loans, similar to the auto boom.

What’s exciting is that we’re already seeing these signals—from agriculture-focused training programs like Drone Didis to high-tech research at institutions like IISc and NSRCEL are nurturing startups at the deep-tech and hardware-software interface. We’re moving toward an era of localized innovation with strong market relevance, and this ecosystem will drive not just technological growth, but also economic and social inclusion. Simply put, it's an extremely promising era to be involved in this industry.