Stakeholders in the drone industry largely welcomed the rules with some believing that it marked a new era in the Indian drone ecosystem while it did not entirely sit well with others. "We welcome the notification of The Drone Rules 2021. It rightly abolishes numerous approvals and has reduced the number of forms drastically […] However, these rules have surprisingly introduced the provision of a ‘Type Certificate’ for UAS [...] which may impede indigenisation of drones in India,” Dr Lalit Gupta, the president of an Indian aviation industry body AvTech Forum (ATFI), said. The draft Drone Rules which relaxed several existing norms and reduced compliance burden on the industry was notified by the Ministry of Civil Aviation Ministry on August 26. These rules have now replaced the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, issued in March this year. Read MediaNama's full summary of the Drone Rules 2021 here. The discussions for the new Drone Rules were spurred by a suspected drone attack on an Indian Air Force base in Jammu Airport. After that, the Prime Minister along with officials from several key ministries such as the Ministry of Civil Aviation went into a huddle to discuss security measures as well as a review of the existing drone regulations. In the meeting, officials of MoCA presented a proposal for new drone regulations, and as reported before by MediaNama, this present draft comes after incorporating the suggestions made by the Prime Minister. The previous UAS Rules was notified in March, and it has introduced…
