Where do wing-clipped drones fly? In the illegal zone

A ban on flying drones may have secured India’s civilian airspace but has given rise to an unregulated drone enterprise services market

The global drone industry is on its way to becoming a $127-billion-market by 2020

It has almost been two and half years since the DGCA banned flying drones for civil purposes

The draft regulations on drones were prepared in April 2016, but nothing has been finalised so far

After the ban, most of the drone companies started vying for government projects

Last year, a Mumbai-based drone startup conducted an inspection of power lines in Gujarat for a large power company, part of a leading conglomerate in India. And that’s one of the services that the company provides for some of its big clients.

A two and a half year ban on drones in India may have secured the country’s civilian airspace from soaring unidentified objects, but it has thrown up another challenge.

AUTHOR

Moulishree Srivastava

Moulishree has over five years of experience in journalism. In her previous assignment, she was a Principal Correspondent for Business Standard where she wrote on technology and telecom. Prior to Business Standard, she was at Mint, where she wrote on various subjects — tourism, hospitality, real estate, science, cyber security and technology. Moulishree graduated as an engineer in Information Technology from Chandigarh Engineering College. She worked as a software engineer briefly but then took a detour and got her journalism degree from IIJNM, Bangalore. She will be based in Bangalore and you can reach her at her [email protected]

View Full Profile

So much journalism in India is superficial.

Articles are generic, almost cookie-cutter in their approach. And they don’t provide enough context on the issues they cover. The Ken is different. I don’t always agree with everything they say but I appreciate their commitment to publishing deeply reported narratives and investigations. Their reporters find new ways to analyze tech among other industries. And that’s always worth a read.

Sid Talwar / Co-Founder and Partner / Lightbox Venture Capital

As entrepreneurs, we thrive on being in the know at all times.

A personal subscription to The Ken was a no brainer. But as startup founders, this isn't enough. Team members also need to be in the know, for everyone handles customer-facing responsibilities and an ecosystem change that impacts customers also impacts us

Kiran Jonnalagadda / Co-founder / HasGeek and Internet Freedom Foundation