DGCA may allow delivery drones; Flipkart faces shipment delays after record sale

DGCA may approve delivery drones

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked for additional details from seven companies that had applied to conduct long-range or beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), drone experiments, the Economic Times reports.

The selected companies include food delivery startups Zomato, Swiggy and Dunzo; medical delivery providers Zipline and Redwing;  Tata Advanced Systems Limited, and drone maker Throttle Aerospace Systems, the report said.

DGCA rejected 27 applicants due to incomplete information furnished by the companies, the report revealed.

DGCA has asked for additional technical details pertaining to their BVLOS application, one of the company members told the Economic Times. 

“We’re hoping that they (the DGCA) will grant us approvals in the next one month, which will allow us to begin work on setting up our solutions and hopefully begin flying by January next year,” the person said.

Flipkart running late in shipping orders post-Big Billion Day sale

Walmart-owned Flipkart has been facing delays in shipping orders after its Big Billion Days sale leading to concerns among sellers on its platform about order cancellations, according to a report by the Economic Times.

Smaller sellers on the platform, who are unable to use Flipkart’s warehouse and storing facility, have reportedly been affected by the delay in deliveries.

The sellers have taken to social media platforms to complain about the situation. The shipment dispatch has been delayed till October 25 even as the company has announced a Diwali Sale across October 12-16.

An auto parts seller said that no one will wait for the order to be shipped for the next 10 days, especially as the new wave of sale is starting next week. “Orders will definitely get canceled,” the person said, according to the report.