Ban on Import of Drones: The central government has banned the import of drones. This ban has come into effect from 9 February. This means that now drones will not be bought from abroad.
However, drones can be imported for research-development, defense and security purposes. The government says that this will encourage drone manufacturing in the country itself.
The Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, issued a notification banning the import of drones on Wednesday. According to the notification, drones will not be imported for any purpose except in the matters of research and development, defense and security.
It has also been said in this notification that if the drone is imported for the purpose of R&D, defense and security, then it will be necessary to take due clearance for that. However, if someone wants to import drone components, then clearance will not be required for that.
What will be the benefit of this?
In order to promote the country’s drone industry, in August last year, the Civil Aviation Ministry had relaxed the rules. In the budget 2022-23 also, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced drone power to promote the drone industry. In this, it has been said to increase the use of drone technology on a large scale.
Experts believed that as long as the import of drones continues, it is not possible to give much boost to the country’s drone industry. That is why now the government has banned the import of drones. This will give a boost to the domestic drone industry.
India is the third largest drone importer
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India bought its first Unarmed Vehicle (UAV) i.e. drone from Israel in 1998. Now India is the third largest drone importer in the world. India is at number three after UK and France in terms of importing the maximum number of drones.
How big will India’s drone industry be?
- In a document issued by the government in January 2022, it was told that there is a possibility of investment of 5 thousand crores in the drone and drone components manufacturing industry in the next three years.
- According to the document, the sales turnover of the drone manufacturing industry stood at Rs 60 crore in 2020-21, which is expected to increase to Rs 900 crore in 2023-24. In the next three years, more than 10 thousand jobs are also expected in the drone manufacturing industry.
- Not only this, there is a possibility of a big boom in the drone service industry. This includes services like operations, logistics and traffic management. It is estimated that in the next three years, the drone service industry will be 30 thousand crore rupees. Along with this, there is also a possibility of creating more than 5 lakh employment opportunities in this industry in three years.
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