Director General of Civil Aviation accords Marut Drones with DGCA Type Certification and RPTO Approval
“AG 365 – Agricopter is India’s first Multi-utility Agriculture Medium Category Drone to receive the prestigious certificate. AG 365- Agricopter is extensively tested in Agriculture in collaboration with prestigious agriculture universities and research institutes in development of crop specific SOPs for a safe, reliable and effective agriculture operations. AG 365 is eligible for Rs 10 lakh unsecured loans from the agri-infrastructure fund offered by the Centre.”
Hyderabad, 27 December 2022: India’s leading drone manufacturer “Marut Drones” have received the Type Certification approvals from the Director General of Civil Aviation for their extensively tested and robustly designed multi-utility agricultural drone AG 365. AG 365 is designed and developed for Indian conditions and can be used for multiple purposes giving a higher ROI to the user. AG 365 is extensively tested for more than 1.5 lakhs acres and optimized for performance to be used in agriculture. Further, extensive research is undergone with AG 365 for development of crop specific drone spraying SOPs in collaboration with prestigious agriculture universities and research institutes.
Having been awarded type certificate for AG 365 model, Drone is now eligible for ₹10 lakh unsecured loans from the Agri Infrastructure Fund at a minimal 5-6% interest. Further, a 50%-100% subsidy can be availed from the Government of India. The made-in-India kisan drone – AG 365 have been developed particularly for agricultural purposes to reduce crop loss, lower agro chemical usage, better yield and profits to the farmers.
In addition, Marut Drones have been accorded RPTO approvals which enables training and capacity building of drone pilots focussed on safe agriculture operations, repair and maintenance. Marut Drones is tying up with major universities to enable drone pilots with highest quality training and with this, it sees a vision of development of 2 lakh drone entrepreneur in countryside. According to DGCA, a remote pilot training organisation (RPTO) is an organisation authorised by the DGCA to impart remote pilot training to any individual seeking for a remote pilot certificate under Rule 34 of Drone Rules 2021.
DGCA certification is provided on the basis of quality checks and is issued after a rigorous testing process of unmanned aerial vehicles in various NABL accredited testing labs. This makes UAV go through a series of material, environmental, operational tests for safe, secured and reliable operations. The certification enables the Hyderabad-based firm to bring the users their agricultural drone technology which can revolutionize Indian Agriculture.
Marut believes in infusing the right science into agriculture working with more than five prestigious Agri Universities including PJTSAU and ICRISAT to bring new technological advancements to the field of agriculture. Over the past 3 years, AG 365 drone is scientifically tested for development of Crop specific SOPs for safe and reliable usage in agriculture. AG 365 is designed to be a multi utility drone catering to the various operations in agriculture from crop protection through spraying, direct seeding to replace the cumbersome and expensive transplantation process in Rice and also for rapid afforestation purposes. Marut’s product is extensively tested on the field of 1.5 lakh acres in 10 states across India.
Marut Drones Founder, Mr Prem Kumar Vislawath, said, “Marut Drones has been taking steps inline with its vision of Advancing Agriculture. Manual spraying in agriculture have caused huge negative health impacts on operators. And a mindless repetition of these sprays is inhumane exposing the operator to chemicals and leading to cancers. With both type certification and RTPO approvals by DGCA, the manual inhumane operations can be easily performed by drone making it safe to the operator. This also creates new job opportunities in rural areas. A drone entrepreneur using this drone can earn anywhere between Rs.40000 to Rs.90000 enabling him to work at comfort of his home making a positive impact on farmers”.
Marut Drones Cofounder Suraj Peddi said “ All the drones in the market can only be used for a single purpose like spraying pesticides in the farms. Understanding the ground reality of farmers, for better ROI and product experience we have built the first multi-purpose drone. Our AG 365 is similar to tractors and one can do more than just spraying by changing attachment. This will give better ROI to user and the drone can be used across year for different purposes in agriculture“.
Marut Drones team also demonstrated their Agri Multiutility drone platform AG 365 and interacted with Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in PM Kisan Sammelan that was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare at IARI Mela Ground, Pusa, New Delhi in October 2022. Hon’ble Prime Minister took a walkthrough of the Marut Drones Exhibition, inspected the AG 365 – Agricopter product, and appreciated the Marut’s science behind Agri spraying, including developing SOP protocols in 7 crops and training modules specific to agriculture spraying and crop diagnosis.