India's Rs 1 trillion plan for defence prototypes towards production

India has made a very big pot of money — about one lakh crore rupees — to help clever companies build machines that the army might use someday.

One of those companies is called ideaForge, and it is building a drone named YETI.

YETI is a special flying machine that can take off and land like a helicopter but fly like an aeroplane.

It is meant to carry heavy supplies, such as food and medicine, to soldiers in hard-to-reach places like high mountains.

The drone is designed to carry between 50 and 200 kilograms and fly up to 200 kilometres, but it is still being tested.

The government promised to help pay for part of the work, but the army has not yet agreed to buy YETI.

So far, 22 projects have been chosen to get money from the fund, and the first company to actually receive cash got 50 crore rupees.

The tricky part is that even after a machine is built, the army must test it carefully, and testing can take years.

A government report showed that many defence projects finish much later than planned.

So the big question is whether this money will turn into real drones that soldiers use, or just make the waiting a little cheaper.