In 2014, Francesco’s, a Mumbai pizzeria tried a gimmick by delivering pizza to its customer on a drone. The flight lasted 20 minutes but within an hour police was at the door of the pizza maker, questioning the staff, as the establishment had no permission to make this sort of a delivery. The incident also led to some arrests.

Six years later, India took the first official step towards legalising these flying machines by officially publishing the draft rules for drone operations in the Official Gazette. The rules, termed The Unmanned Aircraft System Rules, 2020, are open for public consultation for 30 days.

According to the draft rules, unveiled by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which will be the regulating agency for such vehicles, drones have been classified into four categories based on their weight.

For the lightest category Nano (up to 250 gm, can fly to maximum height of 50 feet), a one-time registration for the operating agency is enough.

The rules for the first system recognises trading of drones which executives of drone companies say will encourage a supply chain system of these machines in the country.

The draft rules stipulate who all can manufacture, import and operate drones and the airspace in which all these can be operated. “Drone imports and drone corridors may be established in permitted areas. If warranted by the nature and requirement of the drone operations,” the draft rules say.

However, the industry says the process of implementation needs to be fast-tracked as the wait has been more than usual.

While consultation on legalising the drone sector had started in 2017 at former civil aviation minister of state Jayant Sinha’s behest, it could never become official as general elections had stopped the process.

Government officials say that the prime Minister’s Office and Niti Ayog have asked to put special focus on the industry. The Civil Aviation Ministry now has a special cell to push the industry.

“What we now have a draft legal framing work for the industry. But, it is in the interest of all stakeholders, the industry, policymakers communicate with each other in implementing these in a fast and efficient manner,” says Smith Shah, director partnerships, Drone Federation of India.

The federation was formed in 2017 and now counts big names of India Inc like Adani, Tatas among its members along with more than 2,000 start ups which have been started by primarily young engineering graduates who prefers entrepreneurship over a regular job.

Executives of these companies point out that the biggest hurdle is the far sighted move by the government mandating a No Permission No Take Off (NPNT) protocol for drone operators. However, Vipul Sinha, CEO of Aarav Unmanned Sytems, one of the few companies who manufactures and operates drones for state governments and security agencies, say under

the heavily guarded policy 90 percent of drone operators became ineligible in India. The policy says each and every type of drone approved by the DGCA.

However, with negligible capability of drone manufacturing within the country, 90 percent of India’s drones have been manufactured by DJI Drones

To fulfill NPNT, they will have to make changes in the hardware to be regulatory-compliant. DJI has refused to make the changes. That's because as the Indian market haven’t shown convincing numbers for it to customise drone.

I would say the industry is going through a transition phase. Every transition brings in a set of challenges for a particular period. What has only changed is that now there is a clear-cut idea how you can operate, where you can operate and where you cannot operate. It also provides a very organised way of doing business,” Singh says.

A government official who is part of the Drone Cell at government said that the window of registration has allowed it to formalize the process.

He says that the Prime Minister-led committee which is overseeing India’s response to corona virus has been encouraged by how drones were used to fight the virus and locust problem

“Multiple explorations are going on simultaneously to streamline the process and make commercial usage of drones vibrant. On one side, we are formalizing the industry and on the other testing to make rules for commercial usage,” the official says, pointing out that official nod to delivery companies like Zomato, Swiggy, Dunzo to test drone operation which are beyond visual sight.

“Nowhere in the world, delivery by drones is allowed but India has taken the first step to enable that. From these operations by the companies, we will collect data to frame policies on that, “ the official said.