The collaboration reflects Andhra Pradesh’s growing ambition to emerge as the global hub for drone-led innovation and advanced logistics.
Photograph: Courtesy, Airbound
Key Points
Airbound signed an MoU with Andhra Pradesh Drone Corporation (APDC) to develop a scalable drone delivery network across the Amaravati Capital Region.
The initiative is expected to begin with operations in Guntur, with both parties working towards enabling 10,000 daily drone flights across Andhra Pradesh over the coming year.
Designed for large-scale aerial logistics, it can deliver goods at costs as much as 20 times lower than conventional methods, enabling fast, reliable and affordable access across a wide range of geographies.
The collaboration is expected to support faster movement of healthcare supplies, commercial goods, and critical deliveries.
Bengaluru-based aerospace company Airbound signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Andhra Pradesh Drone Corporation (APDC) on Thursday, to develop a scalable drone delivery network across the Amaravati Capital Region, marking a significant step towards building aerial logistics infrastructure in India.
The collaboration reflects Andhra Pradesh’s growing ambition to emerge as the global hub for drone-led innovation and advanced logistics.
As part of the proposed Amaravati Capital Region Drone Delivery Network (ACR DDN), Airbound will work with ecosystem stakeholders across healthcare, logistics, and e-commerce to enable drone operations, connecting Amaravati, Vijayawada, and Guntur.
What Airbound aims to build
With this collaboration, Airbound aims to build one of India’s most ambitious drone logistics networks, with costs as low as 10 paisa per kilometre.
The initiative is expected to begin with operations in Guntur, with both parties working towards enabling 10,000 daily drone flights across Andhra Pradesh over the coming year, a scale that could position the state among the largest commercial drone delivery networks globally.
Supporting this effort is Airbound’s blended-wing-body tailsitter aircraft, built from lightweight carbon fiber.
Weighing just 1.5 kg, the TRT offers a payload ratio of 1.5:1, compared to the industry standard of 4:1, making it one of the most efficient logistics platforms in use today.
Designed for large-scale aerial logistics, it can deliver goods at costs as much as 20 times lower than conventional methods, enabling fast, reliable and affordable access across a wide range of geographies.
The collaboration is expected to support faster movement of healthcare supplies, commercial goods, and critical deliveries, while helping improve mid-mile connectivity and operational efficiency across urban and semi-urban regions.
What this MoU means
Geetanjali Sharma, managing director and chairman, Andhra Pradesh Drone Corporation, said: “With this MoU, Airbound is not just launching a new mode of delivery, they are laying the foundations of a new logistics architecture for Andhra Pradesh.”
Minister of Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu said: “Airbound’s trajectory shows what India is capable of in next-generation aviation.
“By partnering with a home-grown company to build one of the world’s largest drone delivery networks, Andhra Pradesh is demonstrating that cutting-edge technology can be designed, built, and scaled in India delivering real connectivity, jobs, and growth for our people.”
Naman Pushp, founder and chief executive officer, Airbound, said: “India is at an inflextion point in logistics and aerial mobility, and Andhra Pradesh has both the ambition and the enabling environment to lead this transition at scale.
“With this partnership, we’re not adding one more delivery option, we’re changing the physics of how goods move.”
“Today, logistics is built around the movement of people and vehicles; our goal is to build a network where drones move single packages point to point with the efficiency of a 20‑ton truck.
“When we make that work in Amaravati, Vijayawada, and Guntur, it becomes a template for how cities and states across India can treat drone delivery as shared infrastructure that anyone can plug into, not something reserved for a handful of large players.”
What the partnership reflects
The partnership reflects a shared mission to enable seamless access to essential products, services, and economic opportunities regardless of location, with a strong emphasis on bridging connectivity gaps across urban, semi-urban, and underserved regions of Andhra Pradesh.
The phased rollout is expected to include pilot operations, route mapping, ecosystem partnerships, regulatory coordination, and the gradual development of interconnected drone corridors across the Amaravati Capital Region.
Airbound has previously undertaken drone-led healthcare delivery operations with Narayana Health in Bengaluru, completing over 1,000 flights to support faster and more efficient medical logistics use cases through successful operational deployments.
The company has also completed over 10,000 flights in total as part of its efforts to build scalable aerial delivery systems for commercial applications in India.
