Minister of State (MoS) for Electronics Rajeev Chandrashekhar announced that India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is preparing to conduct a national drone technology conference shortly.

Chandrashekhar didn't give many details regarding the conference, but he did say it will be held every year.

Recently, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) revised new updates to Drone Rules 2021 which are expected to have a substantial impact on the approval process, the ability to self-certify, and the reduction of paperwork and taxes in the industry. On that accord, MoCA incorporated trust, self-certification, and a healthy dose of non-intrusive monitoring. Now that everything is in place, it's time for the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Rules to leave the building and take flight.

The new rules provide the drone sector a boost by reducing paperwork for drone operations from 25 to 5, and even better, MoCA has reduced operator costs from 72 to four. Drones carrying large payloads and drone taxes will be subject to the new laws, which will encourage drones to increase their weight from 300 kg to 500 kg.

The new rules will ensure that the 45 km yellow zones swoop down to 25 km from the airport boundary before any registrations or licenses are issued, allowing the operation of micro and nano drones without a remote pilot license. It will ensure that security screening is eliminated well in advance of any registration or license issue.

According to BIS Research, the Indian Drone industry is estimated to reach $ 1.2 billion this year, with the country contributing 4.25 percent of the world's $ 28.47 billion. For the next few decades, the country is expected to soar into the skies with a multibillion-dollar sector.

To top it off, the DGCA recently gave the Ministry of Agriculture permission to use drones for yield estimation in 100 areas. GA will be at the vanguard of drone technology in India, driving research and development across a wide variety of applications. The business, which specializes in drones for precision agriculture, raised Rs.65 million in a pre-series A funding round headed by Mela Ventures. With this finance, the firm plans to expand its go-to-market initiatives, with a focus on high-reliability and efficient spraying, operational support, and Drone Pilot training.

Under the new rules, drone operations by foreign-owned firms registered in India will be unlimited as well. This decision, according to industry experts, is expected to draw additional investment into the company. Despite the fact that the draft laws are lacking in important aspects, a lot of things appear to be commercially viable under these conditions. Operators are no longer required to get a UAOP (Unmanned Aircraft Operator Permit). All that will be required is a pilot's license.

“We will host a national drone tech conference very soon, under the direction of the honourable Prime Minister. It'll be an annual event”, Chandrashekhar stated at a press conference at the National Media Center in Delhi. The idea is that while there will be an ecosystem of users and applications built around drone technology, the core technology, that is, the actual electronics of it, the software, and the integration of that with AI, image recognition, pattern matching, and other capabilities will be integral to creating an Indian drone technology roadmap”, he added.