In September, 2021, a drone made a “Beyond Visual Line of Sight” (BVLOS) flight carrying a box of life-saving medicines and vaccines in the Vikarabad district of Telangana. This six-kilometer trip covered in about five minutes marked the launch of the state’s “Medicines from the Sky” project that aims to improve health care access in remote areas. The trial demonstrated that MMR, Influenza and Covid-19 vaccines can be delivered effectively using drones. This project showcased the potential of cargo drone technology for solving critical logistics problems at relatively low costs.
Globally, drones are being used in surveillance, agriculture, and various military and industrial applications. The pandemic has highlighted some innovative roles that drones could play, such as public space monitoring during lockdowns and aerial spraying of disinfectants.
India is catching up fast. For example, the Rajasthan government’s agriculture department recently deployed drones to spray chemicals and fight off locust swarms in the state. Moreover, India is rapidly adopting unmanned aerial vehicles for national defense. For commercial use of drones, India's progress has been relatively modest so far, with only a few experimental pizza and medicine deliveries.
The size of the global commercial drone market is estimated at USD 27.4 billion in 2021, and is expected to grow to USD 43 billion in 2025. India is all set to enter this rapidly expanding market, with the Ministry of Civil Aviation expressing its interest to make India the Drone Hub of the world.
Drone operations were unregulated in India until 2018. The new Drone Rules, 2021 simplified many restrictive rules introduced in 2018 and removed cumbersome approvals needed to fly a drone. As per the recent law, authorization is only required when there is a departure from prescribed procedures. The documentation required to obtain a drone usage permit is simplified substantially. Fees to get a remote pilot license have also been reduced. “Digital Sky” will be developed as the user-friendly, single-window online system for all approvals and permissions. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has reserved INR 120 crore for a PLI scheme to boost the drone manufacturing sector. All this can potentially promote drone production and use.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation of India (DGCA) has released a dynamic interactive map within the Digital Sky platform indicating the various zones where drones can operate through color coding. For example, green indicates free operations, yellow signifies restricted operations, and red demarcates the no-fly zones. The concerned ministry will also facilitate the development of drone corridors for cargo deliveries.