India, on 9 February, barred import of foreign drones with immediate effect in an effort to encourage domestic manufacturing of drones. Import policy of drones… under HS Code 8806 is ‘Prohibited’ with exceptions provided for R&D (research and development), defence and security purposes,” a notification issued by Director General of Foreign Trade Santosh Kumar Sarangi said. The import of drones under the three exceptions will be permitted only after taking required permissions and clearances.
The notification comes days after the ministry of civil aviation issued the drone certification scheme on January 25 to stipulate minimum safety and quality requirements to boost indigenous manufacturing. The certification scheme will help in simpler, faster and transparent type-certification of drones.
Since August last year, the government has issued liberalised drone rules, a drone airspace map, extended the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme to drone manufacturing and introduced a single-window DigitalSky platform to help the drone manufacturing industry grow.
According to the government last year, the domestic drone manufacturing industry is expected to grow from a combined turnover of about ₹80 crore to ₹900 crore in three years.
On September 16 last year, civil aviation minister JyotiradityaScindia said the combined turnover of the drone sector – hardware, software and service delivery – was expected to grow to about ₹ 12,000-15,000 by 2026. The government says India has the potential to become a global drone hub by 2030.
