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As per a recent study, there are close to 147.8 million e-commerce users in India, with the number estimated to grow to 210.46 million users by the year 2020.
With the market for e-commerce sector looking positive and with stiff competition driving the industry currently, all the major industry players are regularly looking at better ways to cater to their customers.
With the Amazon famously testing their drone delivery in 2017, the development seems to have had a trickling effect in India. With food delivery and ordering continuing to have a considerable market presence, Zomato in 2018, acquired TechAngle Innovation, a Lucknow-based drone delivery startup to expand its drone-based delivery ecosystem.
The food delivery app has partnered with as many as 75,000 restaurants across 100 cities in India and with the acquisition, Zomato will be working with the drone delivery startup to develop a hub to hub delivery system which will be powered by hybrid multi-rotor drones which can lift as much as 5 kilos.
Speaking about the role of drone delivery and other aerial innovation in driving businesses, Deepinder Goyal, CEO and founder of Zomato said, "We believe that robots powering the last mile delivery is an inevitable part of the future and hence is going to be a significant area of investment for us."
Strict Compliances
Presently under the rules stated under the Director General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA), flying drones or Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems are mainly categorised into four based on the size of the vehicle and depending on its lifting capacity. The DGCA has defined five different categories of drones: Nano: Less than or equal to 250 grams Micro: From 250 grams to 2kg Small: From 2kg to 25kg Medium: From 25kg to 150kg Large: Greater than 150kg The DGCA announced Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) on August 27, 2018, thus making drone flying legal in the country. As per the Drone Regulations 1.0, which laid out strict rules, all drones except for nano drones needs to be registered and must have a unique identification number issued in their name. It also stated that the drones can be flown only during the day time. However, as per the initial policy, the ministry placed a blanket ban on drone delivery by food and other goods by any e-commerce company and limited its usage to aerial photography, filmmaking, disaster relief, and recreational activities.Policy Revision
Speaking about the advantage that the development can have on the India economy, Civil Aviation Minister, Jayant Sinha said, "There are opportunities for our aviation sector & for India's startup industry as India is set to become a global leader as far as drone ecosystem is concerned. It's important for us to have a policy roadmap and regulations that support the growth of the drone ecosystem." The government, however, is all set to reverse its policy under the Drone 2.0 which was expected to come into effect in March 2019. Under the revised policy, it will now allow commercial use of drones fro drone delivery, air-taxis etc beyond visual line of sight.Road Ahead
With the global drone delivery market expected to grow at a CAGR of 22.3% and its application being more dominant in the e-commerce segment, drone delivery in India is expected to grow steadily. In India, drone delivery will definitely catch a steady momentum once the revised set of policies come into being. With government initiatives like Make In India and Start-Up India receiving more importance, it is likely that an increased number of players will be venturing into the field.- Amazon Warns Engineers Against AI Productivity Traps in Latest Memo
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