The new Drone Rules 2021 in India have signaled a major move by the central government to liberalize and ease the erstwhile regulation of drones in India. The move has a number of implications in commercial sector where the government has announced the setting up of a council to help frame a drone regulatory framework that supports businesses, drone usage and approvals, weight classifications, registration of existing drones, zonal restrictions and airspace maps, remote pilot licenses as well as training organization and a push for Made in India technologies, designs, components, unmanned aircraft systems and Indian regional navigation satellite systems.
The Ministry Of Civil Aviation of the Government of India has officially notified the rules, following up from the draft policy released earlier this summer. These rules make us aware that it has to be made easier for drone usage to be deployed, particularly for business and community usage, and also India’s role and importance in the global drone economy.
Abhay Karandikar, Director at IIT Kanpur said that they expect all sectors to gain tremendously from these rules. “We expect that almost all sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, mining, infrastructure, surveillance, emergency response, transportation, geo-spatial mapping, defence and law enforcement shall gain tremendously from these rules. Another boost will come with the removal of Type Certificate, Unique Identification Number and remote pilot license for R&D entities operating drones in their premises,” he stated.
“A welcome move to push the Indian Drone Industry towards new heights,” says the Drone Federation of India in a statement shared on social media.
The government has also reduced the Yellow Zone in the Indian airspace to 12km, down from 45km before. The Yellow Zone is an intermediate flying zone where only strictly regulated airspace activity is permitted, and reduction of this zone means larger chunks of areas falling within the Green Zone where private owners and users would be allowed to fly and operate their drones.
The Indian UAV drones market is expected to be as large as $1.8 billion by the year 2026. Earlier this month, a successful Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) trial run for drone delivery of medicines in Bengaluru was piloted by the Throttle Aerospace Systems (TAS) and UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik). The ministry of Civil Aviation of the Government of India confirmed that this trial run was completed in the 15km radius at Gauribidanur, in the outskirts of Bengaluru.
The drones used for this trial were Medcopter X4 and Medcopter X8. These are developed by Indian drone company Throttle Aerospace Systems. Two different payloads were tested up to a maximum of 2kg. The Medcopter X4 weighs around 3.5kg and can hold payloads of up to 1kg while the Medcopter X8 weighs around 5.5kg and can hold payloads up to 2kg. According to the new rules, both these drones would be classified as Small unmanned aircraft systems.
Wing Commander S Vijay (Veteran) told News18 that some of the most exciting potential applications come from the use of drones in healthcare. “Today, some of the most exciting potential applications come from the use of drones in the healthcare and medical deliveries. Drones are effectively delivering biologicals like blood, serums, viral culture, vaccines and organs in the fastest and safest manner which is helping in saving millions of lives. It is high time we think of a future where packages would reach in minutes instead of hours or days,” he mentioned. A research report led by John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health indicated that drones in the medical field have the possibility of improving vaccination rates and aid in various immunization programs held globally.
The new Drone Rules 2021 also mandate the establishment of the Digital Sky Platform online portal, which can be used to apply online to register drones, and get the registration document easily as well. Drone racing is typically seen as an attractive casual sport in various nations, and with the liberalization, more drones and drone makers from international markets may also make their products available in India. Nishant Pitti, co-founder and CEO of EaseMyTrip, stated that the new rules have been lauded by stakeholders. “The new rules have been lauded by stakeholders for simplifying procedures and reducing the compliance burden.,” he said. The research and development sector has also reacted positively to the new regulations.
