Chennai, Feb 1 (IANS): After liberalising the rules relating to drones in 2021, the government has given a big boost to the drone industry with announcement of Kisan Drones in the Budget 2022-23, an industry stakeholder said.

Presenting the Budget in the Parliament Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: "Use of 'Kisan Drones' will be promoted for crop assessment, digitisation of land records, spraying of insecticides, and nutrients."

Reacting to the announcement Garuda Aerospace Founder and CEO Agnishwar Jayaprakash told IANS: "With 'drone as a service', the government says start-ups will be promoted to facilitate 'Drone Shakti' through various use cases and applications."

He said that Garuda Aerospace is working on fulfilling a massive demand for about 8,000 agriculture drones - domestic and overseas - for pesticide spraying, crop monitoring, and mapping.

PMK founder S. Ramadoss also said the introduction of drones in farming is expected to help farming.