Soon you’ll be able to own, operate a drone

Private Citizens will soon be able to buy and operate drones or Unmanned Arial Systems in India for personal and commercial use. Minister for Civil Aviation P Ashok Gajapathi Raju told the press on Wednesday that the government had prepared a “draft regulation” for the manufacture, sale and operation of drones in India.

Raju said that the ministry had conducted its internal consultation and over the next 30 days, it would consult all other relevant stakeholders. Once the public consultations are done, the government will come out with its final regulation on drones in India.

Drones for civilian use will require a unique identification number as well as radio frequency tags.

The regulations, once finalised, would permit commercial use of drones in the country. On whether companies can use drones to deliver goods, an official said the answer is "yes".

While drones would require unique identification numbers, nano drones, those weighing below 250 grams, would be exempt from seeking one-time approval, including the unique number requirement, as per the final draft rules prepared by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). "We are making the rules very, very user-friendly," the official told reporters here.

Noting that the draft norms have been prepared after extensive consultations internally, he said the final and formal Civil Aviation Requirements for drones is expected to be in place by December-end. Various restrictions have been proposed to ensure that drones are used only for valid purposes and there would be 'no drone zones'.

"All drones are proposed to be operated in visual line of sight, during day time only and below 200 feet," the ministry said in a release. Drones have been classified into five categories, with those weighing up to 250 gram described as 'nano'.

Those weighing more than 250 gram and up to 2 kilogram would be classified as 'micro' while 'mini' would be those having weight of over 2 kilogram and less than or equal to 25 kilogram. 'Small' drones would be those weighing up to 150 kilogram and above that threshold would be classified as 'large'.

Apart from barring these drones to be operated within 5 kilometre of an airport, they would be restricted from "within 50 kilometre from international border and beyond 500 metre (horizontal) into sea along the coastline". Drones would not be allowed within "5 kilometre radius from Vijay Chowk (in national capital)" and also from a mobile platform such as a moving vehicle, ship or aircraft.