The government’s focus on drones is mainly on using it for agricultural and other essential item delivery in rural areas as well as for our defence forces in terms of usage
A mere months after the government eased the process of operating drones in the country through the Drones Policy 2021 in August, it has registered around 29,500 drones in the country.
This comes as the government has initiated a move to create a database of such unmanned flying devices to keep a track of them.
“The idea is to keep a database on drones in the country,” a senior government official told the media. “Any drones beyond the ones registered would not be part of our system and cannot be used as openly as the registered ones.”
The government had provided an option for drone users to register their drone and generate a drone acknowledgement number, or DAN, by the end of November and 29,459 DANs were issued, the official said.
Those who want to use their drones for commercial purposes must generate a separate unique identification number (UIN), he said. A drone cannot be used for commercial purposes unless it has UIN.
“The government’s focus on drones is mainly on using it for the agricultural and other essential item delivery in rural areas as well as for our defence forces in terms of usage,” the official said.
“The focus is also equally strong on manufacturing drones in India and that is why the government has announced a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for drone manufacturing.”
The PLI for Drones and Drone components industry will be over a period of three years, leading to investments worth Rs 5,000 crore, an increase in eligible sales of Rs 1500 crore and creating additional employment of about 10,000 jobs.
The official said the government would also want to check the import of drones any further, which will help give a boost to drone manufacturing in India.
