First ever Agriculture Drone Loan sanctioned for Garuda Aerospace Kisan Drone
New Delhi: History was created at PUSA, Dev Prakash Shastri Marg in New Delhi today as the first ever drone loan facilitated by Agri Infra Fund was sanctioned for a Made in India Kisan Drone, manufactured by Garuda Aerospace in the presence of Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmer welfare Mr. Narendra Singh Tomar, Ministers of State Ms. Shobha Karandlaje and Mr. Kailash Choudhary.
“Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji flagged off the Garuda Kisan Drone Yatra in February this year, where the PM flew 100 drones simultaneously in 100 villages across the country, our goal has been to get loan approval sanctioned for our Type Certified Kisan Drones. Garuda Aerospace has already pre-booked over 2500 drones and firmly is on the path to manufacture 1 Lakh Made in India Kisan Drones by 2024” said Agnishwar Jayaprakash, Founder and CEO, Garuda Aerospace. Garuda Aerospace has commenced its $30 million Series A Funding Round at $250 million valuation making the company India’s most valuable drone startup and is aiming to achieve Unicorn status by 2023. Mahendra Singh Dhoni recently invested in Garuda Aerospace and has become the Brand Ambassador.
Demand for Garuda Aerospace Kisan Drones has been fueled by the progressive government policies such as 40-100% subsidy schemes on Kisan Drones unveiled during the recent Parliamentary budget session, ban on import of foreign drones and the 120 Crore production linked incentive scheme.
Ram Kumar, one of the 25 drone service providers who has received sanction letters for Agri drone loans expressed immense gratitude by saying “My dream has come true and we will now be able to use the loan to buy Garuda Aerospace Kisan Drones which are the most advanced and affordable in the market”. He added by saying “Kisan drones cover 25 acres per day for precision spraying operations, save pesticide usage by 70%, save water usage by 80% and I’m generating Rs.1 lakh a month in revenue which is better in packages from Byjus, Swiggy, Zomato or Ola”.
The Agri Infra Fund functions under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer welfare and this has spearheaded many novels funding schemes that are farmer centric. Joint Secretary Samuel Praveen Kumar who has been well known for his proactive and progressive policy recommendations highlighted that Agri drone loans could be a massive game changer for the farming community. “AIF has a target to facilitate loans upto Rs.1 lakh crore into the Agri Infra ecosystem and recently we crossed Rs.10,000 crore. The advanced Agri drone manufactured by Garuda Aerospace has a unique affordable service model which will motivate thousands of drone service providers like Ram Kumar to avail these Kisan drone loans in quick time” concluded Mr. Praveen.