India is making it easier to buy, fly and sell drones with these 16 policy changes

• The New Drone Policy of 2021 will replace the Unmanned Aircrafts Systems Rules of 2021.
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has abolished several approvals from the latest drone policy.
• Number of permissions reduced from 25 to 5 under the Drone Rules of 2021.

The government of India has announced the much-awaited New Drone Policy of 2021 today, which will replace the Unmanned Aircrafts Systems Rules of 2021.

Despite the recent increase in drone attacks in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has abolished several approvals from the latest drone policy.

MoCA has also increased the coverage of drones under the New Drone Policy of 2021 from 300 kilograms to 500 kilograms to include heavy payload-carrying drones and drone taxis.

Other takeaways from Drone Rules, 2021:

1. Number of permissions reduced from 25 to 5.
2. Maximum penalty under Drone Rules, 2021, reduced to ₹1 Lakh. This will not be applicable on penalties in respect to other laws.
3. No security clearance required before registration or licence issuance.
4. Fees for permissions will be reduced to nominal levels.
5. Interactive airspace maps with green, yellow and red zones will be displayed on the digital sky platform. Red zones are prohibited areas, yellow zones are controlled airspace and green zones are airspace from the ground up to a vertical distance of 400 feet.
6. The yellow zone has been reduced from 45 kilometre (km) to 12 km from the airport perimeter.
7. No permission required to operate a drone in green zone, upto 200 feet, between 8-12 KM from airport perimeter.
8. Online registration of all drones shall happen through the Digital Sky Platform.
9. Easy process prescribed for transfer and deregistration of existing drones in the country.
10. Safety features like ‘no permission-no takeoff (NPNT), real-time tracking beacon, geofencing to be notified from now. A minimum six-month lead time will be provided for compliance.
11. All drone training and examination to be carried out by an authorised drone school. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will prescribe training requirements, oversee drone schools and provide pilot licenses online.
12. No requirement of type certificate, unique identification number, prior permission and remote pilot licence for R&D entities.
13. No pilot license is required for operating nano and micro stones for non-commercial use.
14. Drone corridors will be developed for cargo deliveries.
15. Import of drones to be regulated by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
16. Unmanned Aircraft Systems Promotion Council to be set up to facilitate a business-friendly regulatory regime.

Earlier, there were many permissions required to operate drones in India but they have now been abolished. These include unique authorisation number, unique prototype identification number, certificate of conformance, certificate of maintenance, operator permit, authorisation of research and development (R&D) organisation, student remote pilot licence, remote pilot instructor authorisation, drone port authorisation, and import permission for drone components.

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