Through the guidelines issued by the Director General of Civil Aviation (i.e. Civil Aviation Requirement), the Government of India finally introduced specific regulations for remotely piloted aircrafts systems, ending a long period of ambiguity and paving the way for the commercialization of drones in India in 2018. The drone regulations define and classify drones, how they are to be operated, and the operating conditions for such drones. For this reason, our Drones Practice Group is pleased to present the above publication, accessible through this thumbnail, which is intended to provide legal and tax insights on the drone industry.

We believe that successful development of a robust Digital Sky Infrastructure and legal enforcement capacity building will have a huge economic and social impact on the next generation of the Indian civil aviation industry. An unprecedented development is anticipated in the form of drones, equipped with advance data capturing sensors, making them a powerful instrument for digital information gathering. Even the cost of such operations compared to acquiring the same data through satellites or manned aircrafts is marginal. Further, the convergence of drones with cloud services and big-data techniques has shown an unprecedented level of growth in terms of their data gathering capabilities. If individuals, corporations and governments intend to tap into its full potential to enjoy a competitive edge over their counterparts, they must prepare accordingly.

However, such developments are not immune from practical and operational challenges. In order to shed more light on such issues, this paper provides a global and a domestic overview on the status of drone laws and the practical challenges surrounding the operations of drones globally.

For any help or assistance please email us on dronepractice.nda@nishithdesai.com.

Do visit us at www.nishithdesai.com.

Drone Practice Group

Nishith Desai Associates

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