Food delivery with the help of flying drones could soon become a reality. As per the new list of regulations released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), a drone can be flown during daylight only. Microdrones would be an exception and can fly up to 200 feet in well-lit conditions.
Dunzo and Zomato are looking at making food as well as medicine deliveries via drones. Dunzo will be conducting trials in the outskirts of Bengaluru; on the other hand, Zomato will be doing its trial run in Alwar which is located in Rajasthan.
Alternative Global India (AGI), the management consulting firm has been appointed as the consulting partner by Dunzo and Zomato for conducting these trials. AGI is a business advisory firm that focuses on high growth industry vertices such as drones and electric vehicles (EV).
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Dunzo was supposed to go on a trial run in July or August; however, due to a few clearance requirements from MHA, the trial plan was stalled. Currently, members of both Dunzo’s as well as the Zomato’s air consortium are going through a security trial by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Drone trials are expected to go live in the coming weeks.
AGI has scheduled a trial period of 100 hours for both Zomato as well as Dunzo. Nevertheless, the focus area of the two companies will differ. The focus area for Zomato will be food; for Dunzo, it will be the delivery of medicines. AGI mentioned that in Dunzo’s case, it’s going to be one hub to another and not last-mile deliveries. The hyperlocal deliveries will continue to happen via delivery agents.
Swiggy might also join aerial deliveries in the days to come. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire world is looking at new ways for facilitating contactless deliveries; the approval of drone deliveries can prove to be a game-changer.
