Drones, data and disruption: The Marut Drones story

Prem Kumar Vislawath | August 24, 2024

A visionary engineer and IIT alumnus, Prem Kumar Vislawath, Founder and CEO of Marut Drones, launched his startup with the goal of creating a positive socio-economic impact, backed by radical innovation.

In this exclusive interview, Prem shares his inspiring journey of leveraging drone technology to address some of the most pressing challenges in agriculture and public health.He discusses the pivotal moments that led to the development of drones for eradicating diseases like dengue and malaria and explains how a tragic incident in Maharashtra and the alarming “cancer train” in Punjab inspired him to pivot towards revolutionizing farming practices. He also discusses the prospects of India’s agritech sector and how better government support can help boost the adoption of drones in India.

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IBT: What inspired you to start this venture, and how did it come about? How does drone technology support your vision for a positive socio-economic impact in agriculture?

Prem Kumar Vislawath: The inspiration behind starting Marut Drones was to harness advanced technology to tackle persisting challenges, particularly in public health and agriculture. We began by focusing on eradicating diseases like dengue, malaria, and chikungunya. However, we soon pivoted to agriculture for two key reasons.

Firstly, we were alarmed by the “cancer train” that runs daily from Punjab to Rajasthan, transporting cancer patients for treatment. The majority of these patients, about 90%, are farmers exposed to hazardous chemicals. This isn’t just a regional issue in Punjab or Rajasthan—across the country, farmers over the age of 45 who regularly handle chemicals are at high risk of cancer and other health issues.

Secondly, in 2018, a tragic incident in Maharashtra highlighted the dangers of traditional farming practices. A sudden gust of wind caused fertilizer spray to drift onto a group of villagers, leading to sickness and fatalities. This incident underscored the need to protect farming communities from direct exposure to harmful chemicals. We realized that drones could be the solution, enabling us to eliminate direct contact with these chemicals and reduce health risks.

Marut Drones is dedicated to leveraging innovative drone technology to enhance agricultural productivity, reduce costs, and increase efficiency. Our mission is to provide precise and timely interventions through drones, improving crop yields, boosting farmers’ livelihoods, and making a positive socioeconomic impact.

IBT: Can you give us a basic understanding of what are the main products that you have developed so far and what impacts they are creating in the lives of farmers?

Prem Kumar Vislawath: As a company, we have developed four products with a strong emphasis on agriculture. Our journey began with spray applications, where we conducted scientific trials and validations to determine if the drone spray effectively reaches the crops or if it drifts away. Another important aspect of our research was figuring out the optimal number of drone applications for different crops. For instance, in chillies, drones are used more than ten times, while in paddy, they are used four to five times. Some crops require two to five applications. This prompted us to conduct scientific trials to establish the best practices. We also examined the ideal height for drone spraying, as spraying too close to the crops could cause damage due to the wind generated by the drone.

From 2018 to 2021, we conducted scientific trials on crops like groundnut and paddy, resulting in the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that highlighted significant savings in cost, water, and chemicals, along with improved ROI and opportunities for rural entrepreneurship. These efforts garnered government recognition, leading to the introduction of subsidies and loans for farmers. Our work spans six major agricultural applications, including spray technology, fertilizer and granular application, transplantation, and crop diagnostics using advanced sensors. Our vision is to reduce pesticide use through targeted interventions, much like how tractors revolutionized agriculture. This vision is embodied in our product, AG365, designed for year-round agricultural use.

IBT: What are the key milestones that you have achieved in your journey so far?

Prem Kumar Vislawath: Farmers are keen to use these drones because of the pests and diseases, and he has to address them. He doesn’t have people to handle it. It takes days for him to do it, which is done in less than a few minutes and an hour with drone technology. That’s where we could see a greater interest from the farming community and the farmers. The second target is entrepreneurs, people who are in rural areas. It can be a 10th pass, a polytechnique, an existing truck driver – they are aspirationally moving towards adopting these drones and providing them as a service to end farmers.

That’s why we see a greater kind of interest and a push from the state, central, and a lot of the CSR arms of the companies, all are trying to push this technology to the farming community. And that’s where these companies have even provided drones to self-help group. The farmers’ livelihood has changed from Rs 500 per day to Rs 5,000 per day. We can see that kind of change by the adoption and introduction of technology like these drones.

IBT: What are some significant challenges in agriculture which you would like to talk about, and you would like to address in the future through your technological innovations? What are the areas that you’re looking at presently?

Prem Kumar Vislawath: We’re in the early stages of drone technology in agriculture, similar to how tractors revolutionized farming 20 years ago. Drones are now addressing issues like labor shortages and health hazards by reducing water usage drastically—down from 100-200 liters per acre to just 8-10 liters. This efficiency is attracting people back to agriculture, making farming more manageable. Additionally, educated rural youth, who might have moved to cities, are now staying in their villages, earning Rs 50,000 to 75,000 monthly by using drones for agricultural tasks, thereby revitalizing rural employment.

IBT: We often hear or talk about MRLs and the need to educate farmers on how much pesticides to spray, and how to keep it at an optimum level. So how can drone technology make it very convenient and possibly economical for them in the future so that they are able to adhere to these standards?

Prem Kumar Vislawath: We’re not directly giving drones to farmers; instead, we’re providing them as a service by training individuals, such as agri-graduates, polytechnic students, and those with basic education, to use drones in agriculture. We’re establishing drone training schools in partnership with agricultural universities and institutions to teach proper usage, crop-specific techniques, and safety measures. This ensures that trainees return to their villages equipped to work with farmers. As the industry evolves, we’re seeing a shift toward ultra-low volume formulations for drones, with companies conducting R&D to develop drone-specific chemicals, similar to advancements in China and Japan. This transformation is expected to accelerate over the next 2-3 years.

IBT: If you look at the broader agri-tech sector in India, how do you see its evolution vis-a-vis other countries in the world and its potential over the next decade and what are your observations?

Prem Kumar Vislawath: We have listened and heard about the green revolution and blue revolution. India is going through more of an entire technological revolution and transformation in agriculture at present. There are a lot of unpredictable things, whether it comes to patterns of weather, pest infection, shortage of labor, or skilled labor, and still there’s limited access to the technologies like IoTs and drones. So all this is going to be solved in the coming days. So, majorly decision-making or decision-enabling kind of technologies are going to happen.

IBT: Any specific challenges which the sector faces in terms of going forward and any suggestions for the government that you would like to present to boost growth?

Prem Kumar Vislawath: Drones are still within the highly regulated aviation space. Although regulations have advanced with training and software available in regional languages like Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi, more progress is needed, especially as larger drones (30, 50, or 100 liters) emerge. Support for skill development is crucial, requiring more training schools, testing facilities, and ongoing practice opportunities. Additionally, reducing or eliminating the 18% GST on training and drone products would encourage wider adoption of this niche technology.

Basically in agriculture, the adoption itself is very less and we are adopting, so the taxation should be very minimal. The government could provide any kind of subsidy, because people talk a lot about subsidies in digital. But on the ground, there are a lot of hurdles in executing these subsidies. State, central subsidies in financial assistance to the farmers, investing in drones, promoting awareness, regulatory support or in general boosting adoption at the farmer level can go a long way.

Prem Kumar Vislawath, Founder and CEO of Marut Drones. An IIT alumnus and engineer with a visionary approach, Prem Kumar Vislawath has established Marut Drones to tackle pressing global challenges. Under his leadership, the startup has pioneered India’s first drone designed for the eradication of malaria, dengue, and chikungunya, as well as advancing sustainable agriculture, scalable reforestation, and last-mile medical delivery.