Drones in India: 10,208 Certified Commercial Drones Registered till last September. Air space for drones divided in 3 zones.

Ludhiana, February 9, 2025: Total number of Type Certified commercial drones registered Digital Sky Platform till September 2024 is 10208. Further, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued a total of 96 Type Certificates to different Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) models on the basis of their purpose.

Out of these, 65 models are agriculture based and remaining 31 models are Logistics and Surveillance based.
 
This has been stated by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol in an answer to questions on `Drones registered in the country’ asked by MP (Rajya Sabha) from Ludhiana Sanjeev Arora in the ongoing Budget Session of Rajya Sabha.
 
In a statement today, Arora said the Minister further answered that the Indian Airspace for Drone Operations is divided into three zones (Red, Yellow and Green) for the purpose of Drone operations as per Rule 19 of Drone Rules 2021. The Minister also provided the total count of zone details, which are as under: Airspace - Red Zone - 9969, Airport Red Zone (Airport Region 5-KM)-147, Airport Yellow(5-8KM)- 147, Airport Yellow(8-12KM)-147, Coastal Area India region-25 KM-1. Except for these specified zones as red and yellow, the airspace in the country i.e., approximately 86% of the airspace is green and available for drone operations.
 
Arora said the Minister further answers that to promote safe and efficient use of unmanned aircraft systems (drones), details of measures taken in the country by Ministry of Civil Aviation are as follows:
•    Central Government has notified the liberalized Drone Rules, 2021 on 25th August 2021 & published the Certification Scheme for Unmanned Aircraft, 2022 to establish a global certification and accreditation framework for drones that would scale, with appropriate safeguards, the commercial application of various drone technologies.
•    Drone (Amendment) Rules, 2024 has been notified on 21st August, 2024, eliminating the mandatory requirement of passport in form D-2 and D-3 for the registration and de-registration/transfer of drone. Now, a government issued proof of identity and a government issued proof of address i.e. Voter ID, Ration Card or Driving License can now be accepted for registration and de-registration or transfer of drones. 
•    No permission is required in green zones. Permission of concerned Air Traffic Control (ATC) is required for operating drones in yellow zone. Permission of Ministry of Civil Aviation and the concerned red zone owners would be required for operating drones in red zone.
•    All Drones type certified under the Certification Scheme for Unmanned Aircraft System issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation is to ensure to have tamper avoidance mechanism for 'Firmware' as well as 'Hardware' to protect onboard computer from tampering (unauthorised access).