Ease of doing business
1. Drone Rules 2021 based on a premise of trust, self-certification, non-intrusive monitoring were notified on 25th August 2021.
2. The number of forms were reduced from 25 to 5 and types of fees were reduced from 72 to 4.
3. The need for pilot certificates for operating drones up to 2 kg weight (non-commercial) and all drones weighing less than 250 grams was abolished.
4. The need for security clearance before any registration or licence was replaced with Aadhaar & Passport.
5. The Indian Airspace was segregated into 3 zones - green, yellow and red and published on the Digitalsky platform.
6. The size of a yellow zone was reduced from 45 km to 12 km from the airport perimeter.
7. Approximately 90% of airspace is notified as a green which needs no permission to fly drones up to 400 feet.
8. Further Drone (Amendment) Rules were notified on 11th February 2022 abolishing the need for drone pilot licence. A Remote Pilot Certificate issued by a DGCA-authorised drone school shall be adequate for operating drones.
9. Research, design and testing of drones was completely liberalised with no compliance burden.
10. These rules cover drones weighing up to 500 kg including drone taxis.