In end-August, the government liberalised the policy governing the operation of drones in the country. Experts say that the Drone Rules 2021 are a step in the right direction and industry can now focus on building an investment-friendly ecosystem as well as work with the government on programmes that incentivise local manufacturing. “Currently, drones are being used for visual line of sight (VLOS) applications like mapping, inspection of applications, and so on.

       The new rules liberalise some of those applications. The increase in the size of drones will include some early ...