• The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the commerce and industry ministry, has issued a notification banning the import of foreign drones, as part of efforts to promote domestic manufacturing of drones in the country.

• Import of drones for R&D, defence and security purposes have been exempted, but such imports will require due clearances.

• Import of drone components, however, shall not require any approvals.

• The civil aviation ministry said that in order to promote Made in India drones, import of foreign drones has been prohibited with effect from February 9, 2022.

• The ministry came out with liberalised drone rules in August 2021.

• After the rules, the ministry issued the drone airspace map and PLI scheme in September 2021, UTM policy framework in October 2021. Besides, drone certification scheme and single window DigitalSky Platform were put in place last month. 

Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT)

• Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is an attached office of the ministry of commerce and industry. Right from its inception till 1991, when liberalisation in the economic policies of the government took place, DGFT has been essentially involved in the regulation and promotion of foreign trade. 

• Keeping in line with policies of liberalisation and globalisation and the overall objective of increasing exports, DGFT has been assigned the role of a “facilitator”. The transition has been from prohibition and control of imports/exports towards promotion and facilitation of exports/imports, keeping in view the interests of the country.

• This Directorate, with headquarters at New Delhi, is headed by the Director General of Foreign Trade. 

• It assists the government in formulation of Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) and is responsible for implementing the Policy and schemes under FTP with the main objective of promoting India’s exports. 

• Further, it is responsible for implementation of Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 and Rules and Regulations notified thereunder. 

• The DGFT also issues authorisations to exporters and monitors their corresponding obligations through a network of 24 regional offices.

Additional read:

PLI scheme for drones, drone components

The Union government approved a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for drones and drone components with an allocation of Rs 120 crore spread over three financial years. The drones and drone components manufacturing industry may see an investment of over Rs 5,000 crore over the next three years.

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