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Drones

The drone industry in India has brought with it a revolution for not only aerial transport and logistics, but also for allied industries such as agritech and other forms of commerce. It has seen a tumultuous past with older laws being overly restrictive, however, since August 2021 the Drone Rules, 2021 have liberalized the sector considerably. The new law provides a solid bedrock for the growth of all industries seeking to adopt drone technology to increase efficiency and output from their businesses. They pave the way for BVLOS operations and carriage of payload, in addition to providing incentives for research and development as well as relaxations on entry of foreign players in the Indian market.

From an economic perspective, the drone industry has massive potential in terms of giving a boost to other sectors by attracting significant global investments in India. The Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) or the drone market in India is projected to yield a turnover of USD 1.8 billion by 2026 in light of the government approved Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI scheme) in India. This would be a massive increase, given that the drone manufacturing companies in India yield a turnover of approximately INR 80 crore (USD 10 million)¹. Internationally, various predictions have estimated the drone market to grow from USD 13.9 billion in 2022 to USD 40.7 billion by 2026.²

While the new rules have opened up the drone sector entirely to both domestic and global players, the work is far from finished. With the increasing number of stakeholders in the sector, new regulatory and security concerns will also arise, which will need to be evaluated by the participants. Having witnessed their use for food and healthcare deliveries, in agriculture, trials for drone taxis are also underway.

The new law has restricted import of drones into India with certain exemptions for specific purposes although, it allows the import of drone components into India in compliance with the applicable regulations. Drone use in agriculture is also promoted through standard operating procedures issued for regulating drone application in the sector where drones are expected to play an increasingly important role in undertaking precision farming.³ Recently, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has also released a guidance document for the adoption of drone use in healthcare sector which assists with the planning and execution of drone-based delivery of medical supplies.⁴

With a boost to every industry that drones fly into, it becomes immensely important for the stakeholders to ensure compliance and be aware of not just drone-specific regulations, but all related sectors as well – including geospatial data laws, data protection, import/export regulations, and the general regulatory outlook prevailing in the country.