Sanjay Singh / New Delhi

India’s regulator for Civil Aviation, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has approved and certified a drone in the small drone category developed by Bengaluru-based Aarav Unmanned Systems (AUS).
This comes as a boon to e-commerce and start-ups which have been for long pleading the government to allow use of drones for their deliveries and other commercial services. Now start-ups and individuals can apply for these permits and serve the larger use-cases that these drones offer.
According to DGCA, Aarav’s Unmanned Systems, these drones are the first to be certified by the DGCA and are in the category of small drone.
Aarav Unmanned Systems AUS is the first drone to be given certification under the small category as all earlier certifications by DGCA for drones were allowed under the micro category.

It was found to be compliant with the drone guidelines framed by the Indian government under ‘no permission, no take-off’ (NPNT) protocol for commercial use of drone flights within the geographical boundaries of India.

Small drones have much wider use cases and can carry much bigger payload than micro drones. Drones and categorized by the DGCA based on their weight and payload capabilities.

Drones which weigh between 2 Kgs and 25 Kgs are considered small drones, while micro drones are ones which weigh between 250 g and 2 Kgs, which all includes the payload.

Small drone capabilities are much higher than the Micro drones as indicated by the increase in their payload size and weight. These often have higher quality sensors on board and larger payloads, which are in line with what businesses and industries working with drones seek.

AUS works with power and survey companies, including several government owned agencies and is likely to strike up more deals after the DGCA certification. With launch of the drone, the company aims to grow at 250% year-on-year (YoY) to 400%.