NEW DELHI: Taking a big leap in promoting drone usage across sectors, the ministry of civil aviation on Thursday liberalised its rules, cutting down the number of forms to be filled and approvals sought.
Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the new rules aim to simplify procedures and reducing the compliance burden. The number of forms to be filled to operate them are down have now been brought down from 25 to 6.
“We are all set to usher in a new era of drone usage in India.. We’re going to ensure drone application in transportation, logistic, defence, mining, infrastructure sectors and more. It will provide more jobs. Our aim is to make India a global drone hub by 2030,” said the minister.
He added that the new rules could make the concept of air taxis a reality in the days ahead.
“Air taxis are being researched and invented globally and many startups are coming up. The time is not far when taxis, like the ones of Uber etc that you see on roads, you will see in the air under the drone policy. I believe this is very much possible,” he said.
As per the new rules, approvals for the unique authorisation number, unique prototype identification number, certificate of conformance, certificate of maintenance, import clearance, acceptance of existing drones, operator permits, authorisation of R&D organisation, student remote pilot licence, remote pilot instructor authorisation, drone port authorisation, etc have been abolished.
Besides, no pilot licence is required for micro drones (for non-commercial use), nano drone and for R&D organisations. Also, there will be no restriction on drone operations by foreign-owned companies registered in India.