India to hold annual National Drone Technology conference soon

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is getting ready to host a national drone technology conference in India soon, Minister of State (MoS) for Electronics, Rajeev Chandrashekhar, said today. Chandrashekhar didn’t provide too many details about the conference, but said it will be an annual event.

“Under the direction of the honourable Prime Minister we will have a national drone tech conference, very soon. It’ll be an annual thing,” said Chandrashekhar, speaking at an event at the National Media Center, here in Delhi. “The idea is that while there is an ecosystem of users and application that will be built around drone technology, also the core technology — the actual electronics of it, the software, and the integration of that to capabilities in AI, image recognition, pattern matching etc — will be integral to create a roadmap for drone technology that is Indian drone technology,” he added. 

The Indian government had announced its new policy on drones in August this year. The new Drone Rules, 2021, increases the coverage of drones from 300kg to 500kg, and include drones that will carry heavy payload carrying drones, and even drone taxis. The rules also remove the need for a security clearance before registration or licensing of a drone. The government has also made it easier to import drones and parts for manufacturing of drones.

Other than drone manufacturers and enterprises who want to use drones for commercial purposes, the policy is also expected to help hobbyists and drone racers. For them, it is easier to get permits for flying drones now, and to hold events around drone racing.