Indian Government has banned the import of drones with immediate effect. The Civil Aviation ministry said on Wednesday that the move is to promote domestically-made drones. India plans to emerge as a global drone hub by 2030.
According to Ministry of Civil Aviation–” In order to promote Made in India drones, import of foreign drones has been prohibited by DGFT with immediate effect on 9.2.2022. Exceptions have been provided for import of drones for R&D, defence and security purposes; but with due clearances. Import of drone components, however, shall not require any approvals. With the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021 (notified on 25th Aug 21), drone airspace map (24th Sep 21), drone PLI scheme (30th Sep 21). UTM policy framework (24th Oct 21), drone certification scheme (26th Jan 22) and single window DigitalSky Platform (26th Jan 22) in place, this is a good time to invest in the Indian drone industry.”
The government allocated Rs 120 crore for the scheme and it will be spread over three years. This amount is nearly double the combined turnover of all domestic drone manufacturers in FY21, the ministry of civil aviation had said in a press release. Manufacturers will get an incentive of up to 20 per cent on the value addition made by them.
Growth of domestic drone manufacturing industry was expected to grow from a combined turnover of about Rs800 million to Rs9 billion in three years. The civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, had said the combined turnover of the industry could grow to nearly Rs150 billion by 2026.