Drone rules simplified in India to boost domestic economy

At a time drones have been posing grave threats to air force units along the Western border, India is in to simplify rules for use of Drones aiming at regulating country’s new sector: The Drone Industry which comes along with huge economic potential. The new rules are expected to come in force from August 5, 21.  

The new modalities are:

*The number of forms required for manufacturing, importing, testing, certifying and operating drones in India has been reduced from 25 to 6.

*Several approvals, such as unique authorisation number, unique prototype identification number, and certificate of conformance have been abolished.

*Digital Sky, the platform launched by the Indian government in December 2018, will become a single-window system for all approvals.

*A new airspace map is to be set out. It is to segregate the entire landmass of India into green, yellow and red zones within 30 days of notification of the new rules. These maps will be designed to be machine-readable through an API for easier plotting of drone flight paths.

*All drone flights within red and yellow zones will require permission prior to take off, while permissions for flights in green zones will be granted immediately through the Digital Sky platform.

The government will give drone manufacturers, importers and operators six months from the time the rules are notified to implement safety features such as ‘no permission, no take-off’ (NPNT), real-time tracking, and geo-fencing.