The government on Wednesday banned the import of foreign drones with certain exceptions as part of efforts to promote the domestic manufacturing of drones in the country. The import of drones for R&D, defense and security purposes have been exempted from the ban but such imports will require due clearances.
“Import of drone components, however, shall not require any approvals,” the civil aviation ministry said in a release on Wednesday. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) under the commerce and industry ministry has issued a notification banning the import of foreign drones.
“Import policy for drones in CBU (Completely Built Up)/CKD (Completely Knocked Down)/SKD (Semi Knocked Down ) form… is prohibited with exceptions provided for R and D, defense and security purposes,” DGFT said. by government entities, educational institutions recognized by central or state government, government recognized R&D entities and drone manufacturers for R&D purpose will be allowed in CBU, SKD or CKD form. This will be subject to import authorization issued by DGFT in consultation with concerned line ministries .
Import of drones for defense and security purposes will be allowed in CBU, SKD or CKD form subject to import authorization issued by DGFT in consultation with concerned line ministries. The civil aviation ministry said that in order to promote Made in India drones, import of foreign drones has been prohibited with effect from February 9, 2022.
The ministry came out with liberalised drone rules in August 2021. After the rules, the ministry issued the drone airspace map and PLI scheme in September 2021, UTM policy framework in October 2021. Besides, drone certification scheme and single window DigitalSky Platform were put in place last month.
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