New Delhi, Sept. 12 -- The government's decision to slash the goods and services tax (GST) on drones to a flat 5% is set to reduce prices and widen adoption across agriculture, surveillance, mapping, and disaster management.

The move also resolves GST ambiguities between camera and non-camera drone models and aligns with the Make-in-India manufacturing goals. The GST Council put all drones under a flat 5% GST slab, removing earlier confusion where camera models faced 28% and non-camera ones 18%.

Industry executives hailed the rationalisation as a turning point but also flagged supply chain concerns that continue to mar growth.

"It will accelerate adoption of UAV technology in mission-critical applications like border surveillance, mapp...