{"id":584,"date":"2019-10-31T14:26:22","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T14:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/?p=584"},"modified":"2021-12-08T16:10:00","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T16:10:00","slug":"india-drone-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/india-drone-laws\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are the Drone Laws in India?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/india-drone-laws.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Flying a drone in India is considered legal. But there are few laws that make India unique and you must take note of them. That way, you don\u2019t fly afoul of the law and get into trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Special Travel\nConsiderations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Foreigners are not allowed to fly drones in India. This means no selfie shots from the sky whilst you&#8217;re on your travels in the country. However, if you simply must, for commercial purposes, you could lease the drone to an Indian entity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Indian entity would then be able to obtain a Unique\nIdentification Number (UIN) and an Unmanned Aircraft Operator Permit (UAOP)\nfrom the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can ask any questions you might have before travelling to India by contacting their <a aria-label=\"Ministry of Civil Aviation (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.civilaviation.gov.in\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ministry of Civil Aviation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Drone Categories in <\/b>India<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Drones are grouped into different categories in India. The different categories are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Nano: Weighing below or equal to 250g (0.55 pounds)<\/li><li>Micro: Weighing between 250 grams (0.55 grams) and 2kg (4.4 pounds)<\/li><li>Small: Weighing from 2kg (4.4 pounds) to 25kg (55 pounds)<\/li><li>Medium: Weighing from 25kg (55 pounds) to 150kg (330 pounds)<\/li><li>Large: Weighing more than 150kg (330 pounds)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>All drones, except those in the Nano category, need to be registered before being flown.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Required Drone\nEquipment in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Drones, excluding those of the Nano category, are all required to have certain features in order to be flown in India. These are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>GPS<\/li><li>Return-to-Home functionality (RTH)<\/li><li>An Anti-collision light<\/li><li>An ID plate<\/li><li>A flight controller equipped with flight data logging capabilities<\/li><li>SIM and RF ID\/ No Permission No Takeoff &nbsp;(NPNT)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>No Permission, No Takeoff Policy<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>India\u2019s &#8216;No Permission, No Takeoff&#8217; policy dictates that every pilot requests permission to fly through a mobile app which will automatically process the request and either grant or reject it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If a drone pilot tries to bypass the NPNT and fly without\nreceiving permission from the Digital Sky Platform, the drone will simply not\nbe able to take off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To enforce the policy, all drone pilots have to register\ntheir drone through the Digital Sky Platform. For further details on the\nprocess you can check the <a href=\"http:\/\/dgca.nic.in\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DGCA website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>General Drone Laws\nfor Flying a Drone in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some drone laws you should keep in mind while\nflying your drone in India:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Every drone, apart from those in the Nano category,\nmust be registered and issued a Unique Identification Number (UIN).<\/li><li>You require a permit for commercial drone\noperations. The only exceptions are for the Nano category when flown below 50\nfeet, and the micro category when flown below 200 feet.<\/li><li>Drones must be flown within the pilot\u2019s direct\nline of sight at all times.<\/li><li>Drones cannot be flown higher than 400 feet\nabove ground.<\/li><li>You cannot fly your drone in areas designated as\n\u201cNo Fly Zones\u201d and these include around airports, international borders,\nmilitary installations, Vijay Chowk in Delhi, and state secretariat complexes\nin state capitals.<\/li><li>Permission to fly in controlled airspace can be\nobtained if you provide a flight plan and obtain a unique Air Defense Clearance\n(ADC) and a Flight Information Center (FIC) number.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/are-drones-illegal\/\">drone laws<\/a> are bound to change as regulations evolve along with drone technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You should not take this article as legal advice, it is strictly for educational purposes only. We are not lawyers or law enforcers. To learn more about India\u2019s drone laws, check <a href=\"http:\/\/dgca.nic.in\/cars\/RPAS-Do&#039;s%20and%20Don&#039;ts.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this document from the DGCA website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Flying a drone in India is considered legal. But there are few laws that make &#8230; <a title=\"What Are the Drone Laws in India?\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/india-drone-laws\/\" aria-label=\"More on What Are the Drone Laws in India?\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":607,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/india-drone-laws.jpg",825,457,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/india-drone-laws-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/india-drone-laws-300x166.jpg",300,166,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/india-drone-laws-768x425.jpg",768,425,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/india-drone-laws.jpg",825,457,false],"img_rate_products_categories":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/india-drone-laws-552x306.jpg",552,306,true],"img_rate_products_slideshow":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/india-drone-laws.jpg",825,457,false],"img_rate_products_preview":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/india-drone-laws-168x93.jpg",168,93,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/india-drone-laws.jpg",825,457,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/india-drone-laws.jpg",825,457,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Sam","author_link":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/author\/sam\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Flying a drone in India is considered legal. But there are few laws that make ... Read more","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3015,"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584\/revisions\/3015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dronesvilla.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}