The ‘Government Authorisation for Relief Using Drones’ (GARUD) was first set up in May to fast-track clearances for drones assisting Covid-19 relief work, reports indiatimes.com.
Now both drone developers and manufacturers expect Indian authorities to act with the same rapid response for the general UAV sector as demand ‘takes off’ in sectors like delivery, construction, defence and healthcare.
Sidhanth Jain, founder and CEO of city-based UAV start-up, Binford Robotics, explained, “A majority of drone parts are imported and then assembled here in India. Yet, there are delays in pursuing R&D work because all the major components to assemble prototypes have to be procured from countries like Israel, USA, Germany, Taiwan and Hong Kong.”
Prem Kumar Vislawath, Founder and CEO of Marut Drones, added, “The biggest problem is that the hardware gets stuck in customs which delays our research work. While we don’t require many units of drones, we do need certain import exceptions for R&D work.”
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(News Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
