Filmmakers fret over drone import ban

Aerial cinematography used in the making of everything from Bollywood movies to elaborate wedding videos will be the biggest casualty of India’s import ban on drones, industry insiders told DH.

This is because almost all the drones currently used for these purposes in India are made by China’s SZ DJI Technology, the industry leader.

While India’s ban was aimed at boosting the local drone industry, Indian manufacturers currently don’t make cinematography-grade drones, the insiders said.

Indian companies have done well to develop drones for defense purposes and made progress in developing drones for commercial uses in agriculture, mining and delivery, but they are yet to make drones for aerial cinematography, Drone Federation of India Director Smit Shah said.

“Aerial cinematography is one such area where Indian companies will have to step up either through extensive R&D and subsequent manufacturing or through technology-transfer partnerships with foreign players, including DJI, and try to set up a manufacturing unit in India,” said Shah, whose organisation represents over 2,000 drone pilots and 80 manufacturers.

The drone import ban announced this month has also created uncertainty on whether existing foreign-made drones in the country will be allowed to operate, the industry denizens said.

Some termed the import ban an arbitrary decision.

Arjun Karathi, Founder, Wedding Photographers Association of India, is one of them.

Obtaining permission to use existing foreign-made drones will be a big issue as “the authorities who grant permission will not go on record to give a green signal”, Karathi said. “The bigger issue at hand is the ambiguity in rules and regulations.”

Although there’s no official accurate data available, some industry insiders pegged the number of cinematography-grade drones in India at over 1 million. That represented a compounded annual growth rate of 18 per cent, the highest number of drones employed for any sector in India.

Some worried that the import ban could further boost the thriving grey market for such items.

Sources told DH that the grey market for drones was as big as the formal one.

Procuring drones through the grey market was easier and most drones meant for aerial cinematography had come to India through this route, they said.

Rather than banning the import of foreign-made drones, the government should have regulated the trade better and made revenue out of it, the insiders said.

Some others worried about the ban’s impact on jobs and costs.

“It will lead to job losses as drone manufacturers of India only address a few use cases. This is not good for the industry”, said Sooraj P Nath, PRO, Professional Aerial
Cinematographers Association. “For film shoots requiring specific drones, obviously we will have to hire someone from outside India now, which will push the cost higher.”

Last year, the civil aviation ministry said it expected India’s drone sector to achieve a total turnover of $1.63 billion to $2.04 billion by 2026, up from about $10.88 million in 2021.

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