A

REPORT

ON

“Delivering Education to Differently-Abled

through Drones in India”
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE COURSE
“Innovation Management and New Product Development”

UNDER GUIDANCE OF
Prof. Diptiman Banerjee

Submitted by
Aastha Sharma
Ashmi Nayar
Abhishek Mandaviya
Sarthak Agarwal
Vaibhav
Jayant

JINDAL GLOBAL BUSINESS SCHOOL, Sonipat (Haryana)

Table of Contents
Executive Summary .......................................................................................................... 3
Relevance and Need ......................................................................................................... 4
Product Name, Description, Features, Benefits .................................................................. 5
Points of differentiation.................................................................................................... 6
Market Assessment .......................................................................................................... 7
Target Audience ............................................................................................................... 7
Brand name...................................................................................................................... 8
Positioning ....................................................................................................................... 8
Pricing .............................................................................................................................. 9
Promotion ............................................................................................................................... 9
Place ..................................................................................................................................... 10
Financials ....................................................................................................................... 11
Appendix 1 – Administration of an Exam......................................................................... 12

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Executive Summary
Imagine the following scenario: during your school years, you had to drop out because you
were differently abled and the school infrastructure, teachers or your peers did not support
you. You had mental capacity, you had willingness to learn, but the society was not able to
give you what you desired. This is the story of many differently-abled children who want to
attain an education but are unable to do so due to various economic, physical or social
factors. Sometimes, the needs of the differently-abled are not accommodated by the
schools simply because of the extra effort it would take to do so. However, as a society, is it
right to deprive certain members of such a fundamental right to education because of the
above reasons?

This project explores a new application of the existing drone technology: to extend
education to the differently-abled who are unable to commute physically to schools and
colleges. Beyond this target group, the application may be extended to all persons, whether
differently-abled or not, to obtain an education if they are not physically able to come to
schools and colleges in future.

The report begins by examining the relevance and need of education to be extended to the
homes of differently-abled where the need and scope of the proposition is evaluated. It is
followed by a detailed description of the proposed innovation, along with its features,
attributes and benefits. Further, the points of differentiation that differentiate the offering
from substitute goods/services in the market are outlined, along with a detailed market
assessment of the size, growth, scale etc. We then define the target audience for the
offering, and envision its brand name and positioning. The four P’s of marketing: Product,
Price, Place and Promotion are thoroughly explained, and the report concludes by
predicting and forecasting the financials that the innovation is projected to make.

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Relevance and Need
The essence of Human Resource Development is education, which plays a significant and
remedial role in balancing the socio-economic framework of the country.1 Education is a
way to obtain knowledge, increase our perspectives and develop technical skills that can be
used for personal growth and societal contributions.

Despite understanding the importance of education, there are many social, cultural and
economic factors that do not allow a percentage of the Indian population to complete or
even start their journey of education. According to the Census of India, 2011, 26% of the
Indian population is illiterate. Moreover, the percentage of differently-abled population that
is illiterate is 45%, extremely high when compared to the 26%.2

India also has a demographic advantage, as since 2018, India’s working-age population
(people between 15 and 64 years of age) has grown larger than the dependant population
— children aged 14 or below as well as people above 65 years of age and this advantage will
sustain for another 37 years.3 To derive the maximum benefit of this demographic
advantage, inclusion of all the groups that have been excluded from typical education and
their skill development and growth will help uplift them and enhance their quality of life, as
well as develop the country’s Human Resources.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the national educational initiative to help realise universal
elementary education policy, has a motto that “Every child with special needs should be
placed in regular schools with the needed support services”. However, the ground reality of
India is very different. It is often compared to a “utopian ideal”, i.e, an unachievable goal,
that all disabled will get access to education. The government’s initiative may promise free
education for all children between the ages of six and 14, but those with special needs form
the largest out-of-school group in the country.4

1 Education | National Portal of India. (2019). Retrieved 16 September 2019, from

https://www.india.gov.in/topics/education
2 Why 45% of India’s disabled are still illiterate and thousands dropping out of schools. (2019).

Retrieved 16 September 2019, from https://www.hindustantimes.com/editorials/why-thousands-of-

disabled-children-are-dropping-out-of-our-schools/story-rI2XARDLwafCSUAYV4MQ7O.html
3
Thakur, A. (2019). India enters 37-year period of demographic dividend. Retrieved 16 September
2019, from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/india-enters-37-year-
period-of-demographic-dividend/articleshow/70324782.cms?from=mdr
4 Why 45% of India’s disabled are still illiterate and thousands dropping out of schools. (2019).

Retrieved 18 September 2019, from https://www.hindustantimes.com/editorials/why-thousands-of-

disabled-children-are-dropping-out-of-our-schools/story-rI2XARDLwafCSUAYV4MQ7O.html

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Product Name, Description, Features, Benefits
The product name is EDRONE, which incites the idea of “Education through Drones” in the
minds of people.

The EDRONES are devices that have the ability to go to the locations of customers to deliver
services without the immediate supervision of humans. The value proposition of the
EDRONE is that it will bring education to the differently-abled people who want to obtain an
education but are unable to physically go to schools and colleges to do so. Therefore, the
EDRONE will bring education to them.

EDRONE will have the following features:

1. Load carrying capacity of about 5-6 kgs, which will enable the drone to carry
textbooks and other reference material for the student.
2. A mini-projector with speaker will be installed in the drone which will help in
delivering video tutorials and educational content through the drone without the
requirement of a PC and internet connection on behalf of the student.
3. A camera to supervise the student while they are giving their exams at home so
unfair and unethical practices can be weeded out.

The benefits of EDRONE to the differently-abled community will be:

1. Education can come to them in the form of certifications whose exams they can give
from their homes
2. Any time delivery of education, as the drone does not require breaks to operate
unlike humans
3. On time delivery of required services, as the drone will surpass all traffic jams
4. The drone will deliver education for deaf people through sign language videos
5. The drone will deliver education for dumb people through audio

A sketch of the drone is attached in Appendix 1.

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Points of differentiation
The EDRONE is a medium to connect and provide education to the people who are literate
but due to some factor or the other couldn’t get access to their education. There are people
on the society who are disabled and in India, most of the examination buildings are not
disabled friendly. As a result, they end up failing to have their exams and giving up on their
dreams.

What EDRONE will basically do is the government of India will dispatch the EDRONE from
the examination centre to the examinee. through this way, people who had not access to
their exams earlier can now avail this facility.

There will be camera with a recorder pre-installed in the EDRONE. This will help the
examiner to evaluate score. For the rural areas who have not access to the internet, the
EDRONE will hand over the result sheet in hand to the examinee.

The EDRONE will be used for the SOCIAL CAUSE and not for any DEFENSIVE OPERATION as
the US military use drones to keep a check on their opposition. Being a social cause, we
believe that the government of India won’t even think twice for the approval of this project.
As people through this could have access to education, this will help the country to raise up
the literacy rate which will be ending up for the country in the long run. There will be two-
way transfer of information and documents between the examiner and the examinee as the
drone will also perform the activity of providing the results to the examinee. For the
examination purpose, the examinee will only have a limited time to give their exam as the
EDRONE is time bound.

Also, for the education purpose, there will be a mini projector attached with the EDRONE
which will help in providing education and teaching the students in rural areas as the
EDRONE has the capacity to hold 5KGS of weight. The drones already existing in the market
are usually used for delivery purposes but EDRONE is performing and showing itself in a
whole different way acting as a time saving medium.

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Market Assessment
The market for the Drone exams would consist of all the 45% of India’s disabled population
that is still illiterate and need education for economical support. With government efforts
like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, this model of innovation could be sold to the government
authorities who will later use it in educating the underprivileged with minimum use of
employees but technical supervision to assist the work for the benefits of the society.
This initiative would receive a huge support from the government as well as NGOs which are
already working in the same. Not just this, the corporates that invest in the CSR activities
would be keen to use technology for educating the underprivileged.
The market segment would not be restricted to the disabled, it comprises of a huge market
potential in the rural areas as well. As there is a huge potential for women that need to
handle house chores, their education is compromised thus this innovation would benefit
women to stay home and get supervised by the technological assistance to clear their
education.

In India, there is a huge dropout ratio of an initial enrolment of 100 students, on an average,
only 70 finish school as stated in the Hindu. (Vignesh Radhakrishnan 2019 )
There are various factors that lead to such dropout ratio such as Child labour, Sexism in
rural areas leading to an early Child marriage as well as house chore handling, Disability etc.
All these factors could be addressed through this innovation to encourage education in
India, increasing the economic conditions of our country, motivating disabled to be able to
gain access to the education.

Target Audience
A target audience is a group of consumers who you think your product will benefit to or for
whom the product is made for. Business who have a wider and larger market target on one
type of consumers.

So talking about this innovation, the target audience for this product will be the NGO’s and
the schools and the government bodies. Also coaching centre who provide certification
courses and professional courses can be benefited from this product. These institutions can
help the disabled people to get the education and degrees or certificates of such different
courses which they normally couldn’t. Also, this EDRONE can be used in providing education
to poor in rural areas and villages where there are no school facilities so NGO can educate
these poor and underprivileged people.

This product can will also benefit the women class as some mothers who want to study but
are not allowed to study after marriage or are burdened with household responsibilities can
be given a chance to study.

So the profile of these target audiences are clear with these that the govt. authorities and
the NGO and other education institutes can use this product for the betterment for the
society and help to improve the literacy level.

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Brand name
Brand name is an element of the brand that helps differentiate one product to the other.
Being a technical as well as educational product, the Brand name for the product would be
decided on certain factors;
1. Unique name for the product to effective differentiation
2. Easily pronounced and capable for legal protection
3. Needs that the product delivers and give idea of what the product delivers
4. Simplicity of the name for customers to remember
5. Characteristic of the industry the product serves

The brand name decided by the group for this particular drone which is used to carry the
mark sheets along with the camera for surveillance is EDRONE.
The name is easy to remember as it depicts the function of the drone and its usage.
(Education and Drone)
The given logo is designed by the group to depict how the EDRONE would be marketed and
to differentiate it with the other usage of the product.

Positioning
Positioning in marketing refers to the value and image perceived by the end users in the
market.

So it is made very clear about the positioning of this product that it will serve for the
education of the humankind. As the name itself says “EDRONE – the education drone”. It
will be positioned as the drone that will help to educate the poor and the disabled people
and also the people who are not allowed to move out of their homes or are busy with their
household responsibilities. It will help such community of the society to become a better
person and achieve his/her dreams.

It can also be previewed as “the drone of the dreams”.

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Pricing

Everyone should have right top education but not at a high cost. In villages and backward
areas student try hard to excel in life but at the end refrain to do so because of lack of
examination centers. So providing this service at a subsidized rate to the students who want
to render this service
Our price depends upon:-
 Objective of business
 Nature of price sensitivity
 Purchasing power of consumer
 Product and promotional policies of firm
We will follow economy pricing. In Economy pricing the margins are wafer thin. The
overhead costs will be very low such as advertising and marketing.
Cross subsidized model will also be followed. Many organizations seek donation for the
Nobel cause. Our organization will also seek donation for this service which is being
provided to disabled students so that they could excel in life.

For say:-
Total cost of per drone(Actual service provided)- 6000
Subsidy rate- 50%(not fixed)
Subsidized price- 3000
Total donations- Rs. 1,50,000
Total no. of drones- 20
Subsidy per drone-150000/20= 7500
50% will be covered from the donations that will be received. The subsidy rate may vary
according to the donations received. High donations result in low cost to disabled students.
Customer will be provided with installment facilities. This is for who cant pay full amount.
For this a low interest rate will be levyed that is of 5%.

Promotion
To access this service promotion is highly important. In the area where are no exam centers,
smart phones and internet is also difficult to find. (Problem?)
So for promotion we will use traditional method of advertising that is via
 Newspapers
 Pamphlets,
 word of mouth marketing,
 Appointing volunteers form NGO’s to market this service door to door.
 Assigning responsibility to sarpanch of particular area to spread the information’s
 Vehicle Campaigns
 Promotion in village fairs and festivals.

The rural communication need more creativity and innovation. In this situation time lag will
be involved because the ruler byer adoption process is time consuming.

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Place
For a service to run there is need of physical space. It will covers the activities which we will
be trying to reach our consumers. We will be dealing with physical distribution of drones at
the destination at right time and right place.
We will use a different distribution channel which will not include any mediator. The drones
will be purchased by us and then later sent to the desired place. We will try to maintain
inventory as low as possible and after analyzing demand in the market of this service,
further new investments will be made.
We will focus on one-tier distribution.

Producer EDRONE CUSTOMERS

Hence our company will purchase drones from the producer and then further make it
available to the customers.

Purchase Sales
EDRONE CUSTOMERS
Producer

Cash Inflow

Donations

In this matrix EDRONE purchases from producer at original cost, then subsidizes the product
through donations and then sell to customers.

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Financials

EDRONE is primarily focused on developing drones that would help disabled children
achieve education and qualifications. It also focuses on children that are living in rural and
backward areas where accessibility to education is a major concern.
The drone is mainly provided to government organizations, NGO’s, schools and also the
coaching centers that provide professional certifications.
In the initial phase of the business, we expect to sell 6,000 units of EDRONE’s costing 25000
each and 8,000 units in the year 2020.
Particulars Amount (2019) Amount (2020)
Units sold (rs) 15,00,00,000 20,00,00,000
Funding received 10,00,00,000 10,00,00,000

R&D costs -18,00,00,000 -16,00,00,000

Marketing -1,00,00,000 -3,00,00,000
Salary -4,00,00,000 -6,00,00,000
Travelling expenses -22,00,000 -24,00,000
Interest expenses and taxes -25,00,000 -30,00,000
Misc expenses -3,00,000 -4,00,000

Profit 1,50,00,000 4,42,00,000

Net profit 2,92,00,000

As 12,000 units are sold in the next year, the business expands and therefore the profit
margin also extends.
The revenue model for EDRONE is based on the number of drones sold to various
organizations in catering the educational needs of children and also by various funding that
are received from Government and other institutions that supports the social initiative. We
offer a single model of drones that costs 25000 a piece, thus providing a huge educational
opportunity to differently abled and also to students that reside in socially backward areas
that offers poor educational facilities.

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Appendix 1 – Administration of an Exam

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