In March 2021, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) published the draft of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Rules 2021. The union government sought the feedback on the draft UAS rules from academia, start-ups, end-users, and other stakeholders. The draft rules were deemed restrictive in nature as well as cumbersome, involving considerable paperwork and requiring permissions for every drone flight, and very few ‘free to fly’ green zones were available. As such, the government repealed the UAS Rules, 2021 and replaced them with the new liberalised Drone Rules, 2021, which were notified in August 2021.
The rules were further relaxed by introducing Drone (Amendment) Rules, 2022 in February 2022.
Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or remotely piloted aerial systems (RPAS) or unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) that are controlled either by a pilot on the ground or with the help of technology. Drones offer tremendous benefits to almost all the sectors of the economy. It is useful in agriculture, mining, infrastructure, surveillance, emergency response, transportation, geospatial mapping, law enforcement, etc. Due to their reach, versatility, and ease of use in remote and inaccessible areas, drones could be significant creators of employment and economic growth. The Indian government intends to make India a global drone hub by the year 2030, in view of India’s traditional strengths in innovation, technical strengths, information technology, frugal engineering, and huge domestic demand.
The Drone Rules, 2021 are based on the principles of trust, self-certification, and non-intrusive monitoring. It is designed to usher in an era of growth while balancing safety and security concerns.
Highlights
Applicability The Drone Rules, 2021 shall be applicable to all drones with a maximum all-up weight of up to 500 kg, which are registered in India or being operated over India.
Categorisation and classification of drones The drones have been classified into the following categories:
- Nano unmanned aircraft system: weighing less than or equal to 250 gm;
- Micro unmanned aircraft system: weighing more than 250 gm, but less than or equal to 2 kg;
- Small unmanned aircraft system: weighing more than 2 kg, but less than or equal to 25 kg;
- Medium unmanned aircraft system: weighing more than 25 kg, but less than or equal to 150 kg;
- Large unmanned aircraft system: weighing more than 150 kg.
Category of zones The Drone Rules 2021-associated airspace maps classify Indian airspace into the following three zones:
Red zone means the airspace above the land areas or territorial waters of India or any installation or notified port limits specified by the central government beyond the territorial waters of India falls under the red zone. In these areas, flying of drones is permitted only by the central government.
Yellow zone means the airspace above the territorial waters of India within which drones are restricted. Flying of drones here shall require permission from the concerned air traffic control authority. The airspace above 400 ft (120 m) in the designated ‘green zone’, and the airspace above 200 ft (60 m) in the area located between the lateral distance of 8 km and 12 km from the perimeter of an operational airport, shall be deemed as yellow zone. Drone operations above the yellow zone shall require permission from the concerned air traffic control authority.
Green zone means the airspace above the land areas or territorial waters of India, up to a vertical distance of 400 ft (120 m) that has not been designated as a red zone or yellow zone in the airspace map. The airspace up to a vertical distance of 200 ft (60 m) above the area located between a lateral distance of 8 km and 12 km from the perimeter of an operational airport. In the green zones, no permission, whatsoever, is required for operating drones of weight up to 500 kg.
The airspace map may be modified by the authorised entities from time to time. Before operating a drone, one has to mandatorily check the latest airspace map for any changes in the zone boundaries. The free airspace map could be accessed on the digital sky platform.
Permission requirements for flying drones Drone manufacturers are required to obtain a ‘type certificate’ for a model of the drone which has not been certified yet.
- Drone operators need to obtain a unique identification number for each drone through registration with the obtained type certificate number.
- Operation of drones without registration on the digitalSky platform, unless exempted from the requirement of a unique identification number under liberalised Drone Rules 2021, would not be permitted.
- A registration record shall be maintained by the director general of all such UAS to which a unique identification number has been issued under the Drone Rules 2021.
- The person, who is operating the drone, is responsible to ensure that the UAS conforms to a valid type certificate.
Remote pilot licence (now remote pilot certificate, as per amended rules)
- Under the Drone (Amendment) Rules 2022, the word ‘licence’ has been replaced with ‘certificate’ in most of the instances.
- Any person piloting a drone is required to obtain a remote pilot certificate (previously licence).
- The person should be between the age of 18 years and 65 years, and should have passed tenth standard from a recognised board.
- The person should have completed the remote pilot training from an authorised remote pilot training organisation. As per the new amendments to the Drone Rules 2021, authorised training institutes will be eligible to issue a remote pilot certificate (RPC).
- Previously, only the director general of civil aviation could issue such a certificate.
- After successful completion of the training, the pilot must fill the application form for a remote pilot certificate on the DigitalSky Platform (It is an unmanned traffic management system to simplify the process of registration and licensing of drones. It will give immediate online clearances to operators for every flight.) within 15 days of issuance of the certificate of completion of the training by the training organisation.
- The remote pilot certificate would be valid for 10 years. Pilots operating nano UAS or micro UAS, for non-commercial purposes, are exempt from the remote pilot certificate requirements.
UAS operations for research, development, and testing The following entities do not require a type certificate or unique identification number for research, development, and testing purposes:
- Any research and development entity under the administrative control of, or recognised by, the central or state government or unition territory administration;
- Any educational institution under the administrative control of, or recognised by, the central or state government or union territory administration;
- Any start-up recognised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade;
- Any authorised testing entity;
- Any UAS manufacturer having a goods and services tax (GST) identification number.
Import regulation Import of UAS shall be regulated by the directorate general of foreign trade or any other entity authorised by the central government.
Production-Linked Incentive Scheme for Drones and Drone Components
The central government had notified the Production-linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drones and drone components on September 30, 2021.
The drones and drone manufacturing industry would see an investment of over Rs 5000 crore by 2025. The annual sales turnover of the drone manufacturing industry is expected to grow from Rs 60 crore in 2020–21 to over Rs 900 crore in FY 2023–24. It is also expected that this industry would generate over 10,000 direct jobs over the next three years, i.e., by 2025.
The drone service industry, which includes operations, logistics, data processing, traffic management, etc., is expected to grow even bigger than the drone manufacturing industry and generate over five lakh jobs in three years from 2022–25. The estimated growth is expected to be 30,000 crore by 2025.
Features of PLI scheme The total amount allocated for the PLI scheme for drones and drone components is Rs 120 crore spread over three financial years. This amount is nearly double the combined turnover of all domestic drone manufacturers in FY 2020–21.
The incentive for a manufacturer of drones and drone components shall be as high as 20 per cent of the value addition made by the manufacturer.
The value addition shall be calculated as the annual sales revenue from drones and drone components (net of GST), minus the purchase cost (net of GST) of drone and drone components.
The government has agreed to keep the PLI rate constant at 20 per cent for all three years, an exceptional treatment given only to the drone industry. In PLI schemes for other sectors, the PLI rate reduces every year.
The proposed tenure of the PLI scheme is three years starting in FY 2021–22. The PLI scheme would be extended or redrafted after studying its impact in consultation with the industry.
The government has agreed to fix the minimum value addition norm at 40 per cent of net sales for drones and drone components instead of 50 per cent, another exceptional treatment given to the drone industry. This would allow the widening of the number of beneficiaries.
The PLI scheme covers a wide variety of drone components: (a) airframe, propulsion systems (engine and electric), power systems, batteries and associated components, launch and recovery systems; (b) inertial measurement unit, inertial navigation system, flight control module, ground control station and associated components; (c) communication systems (radio frequency, transponders, satellite-based, etc.); (d) cameras, sensors, spraying systems, and related payload, etc.; (e) ‘detect and avoid’ system, emergency recovery system, trackers, and other components critical for safety and security.
The list of eligible components might be expanded by the government from time to time, as the drone technology evolves.
The government has agreed to widen the coverage of the incentive scheme to include developers of drone-related IT products also.
The government has kept the eligibility norm for MSME and start-ups in terms
of annual sales turnover at a nominal level—Rs 2 crores (for drones) and Rs 50 lakhs (for drone components). This would allow the widening of the number of beneficiaries.
Eligibility norm for non-MSME companies in terms of annual sales turnover has been kept at Rs 4 crore (for drones) and Rs 1 crore (for drone components).
The incentive payable to a manufacturer of drones and drone components shall be simply one-fifth of value addition.
The PLI for a manufacturer shall be capped at 25 per cent of total annual outlay. This would widen the number of beneficiaries.
In case a manufacturer fails to meet the threshold for the eligible value addition for a particular financial year, the manufacturer would be allowed to claim the lost incentive in the subsequent year if the manufacturer makes up the shortfall in the subsequent year.
Conclusion
The new rules are intended to greatly improve the ease of doing business in the sector by reducing the number of clearances and compliance requirements for registration, fees to be paid, and by making single- window clearances and compliance requirements for registration, fees to be paid, and by making single-window clearance available.
The government will release a number of policies in the near future which would shape how these rules would be implemented. These include standards for import and manufacturing policy on traffic management and requirement of safety features.
According to experts, regulations of importance to commerce such as beyond visual line of sight operations and drone swarms have to be addressed and included in the new UAS rules.
There are a number of details that were specified in previous versions of the regulations but they have been left out from the Drone Rules 2021. The scope of drone operations permitted, as well as commercial viability of certain types of drone operations would depend upon subsequent regulations that the government may notify.
© Spectrum Books Pvt Ltd.