Traveling to India

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Hello, I am a photographer and going to India for two weeks (flying from the EU) and would like to take my drone with me to make some beautiful ariel shots of the nature and landscape. I read that droning is illegal in India - does anyone have experience with this? Thanks Andras
 
Bumping this one as the forum has a couple of threads regarding India but no real conclusion, anyone travelled in to India via a major airport such as Mumbai with their Phantom in recent months?
 
Be sure you get a reliable source for you info.

The most recent story I could find in a 30 sec. Google search is from July and it indicates that basically all drones are [still] illegal for civilians to fly since Oct. 2014.
Why India needs rules for flying drones, soon



Good Luck.
 
Yeah I read the same articles, but spoke with colleagues in India and they said they're sold everywhere and flown quite widely. I think the main problem is getting them through the airport when you arrive as they x-ray all bags including hand luggage and often charge 'tax'.

Unless anyone has had success recently I think I am leaving it at home this trip.
 
Hello, I am a photographer and going to India for two weeks (flying from the EU) and would like to take my drone with me to make some beautiful ariel shots of the nature and landscape. I read that droning is illegal in India - does anyone have experience with this? Thanks Andras

Hi,
Did you take your drone to India? If so, which airport did you land at and did you have any problems at the airport security and customs?
 
I recently took my Phantom 3 to India, and don't know if I would recommend it. Getting the phantom through the airports were fine, never had an issue at Delhi or Dehradun or Varanasi. If you are flying away from the cities, you will probably be ok, but there is a huge amount of paranoia regarding drones in the cities. Drones have been linked to terrorist attacks in India in the last few years. We were actually detained by the police for flying, had to talk them down from seizing it. The only reason we aren't in jail is because we were tourists.
 
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Hi, thanks for your reply.

I went to India in January and returned last week. I was worried about three things, thats why I posted on this thread.

The first was flying with the phantom 3 and its batteries. I was flying with Emirates from uk to India via Dubai. Ive heard stories about airlines not being happy with people carrying LiPo batteries in their suitcases and that they preferred if they carried it onboard. However I heard of cases where Dubai airport security confiscating drone batteries due to safety reasons. Because of this I only took one battery (attached to the drone) with me thru Dubai and got a friend in India to purchase another battery for me.

I ended up flying from Dublin rather than London. The airport security were very cool and had no problems. They were very interested in the drone, one guy had the phantom 2 so everything was easy. Dubai airport security was easy as well, but it may have been because of the rush at the time.

Second worry was Indian airport security. I landed in south India (Cochin Airport in Kerala State) and prepared to waffle my way through security. I had printed out letters from the Indian ambassador in London saying that Im allowed to take the drone to India but not fly it outside etc. No waffle was necessary because the security guys were too busy looking for counterfeit money, excess alcohol & cigarettes and gold being smuggled in. My drone went through the x-ray machine and they just waved it through.

My third worry was flying the drone in built up areas. Because there was a temporary ban in India, the second you fly it, people come running out to watch and the news spreads fast. And then police come to either confiscate it or look for money. Thankfully I only encountered police twice and both times, they did not know the current law regarding drones, so they just watched it flying around along with everything else.

I went to three weddings whilst in Kerala, two were filmed by drones. Apparently, its very popular at weddings

I didn’t fly it around too many touristy places because it so annoying filming anything with people standing and staring. I mainly flew around the tea plantations of Munnar, the beaches of Trivandrum, and other non highly populated sites.

Three weeks ago the Indian govt. passed a law banning drone outright from the 1st April 2016. They will be confiscated at airports and you will have to pay duty.

When I was leaving india, the airport security gave me a stern warning not to bring the drone back.
 
Man, probably the greatest place on the planet to launch one, too. Kites by the 10s of thousands flying in the air, a national pastime, but no drones. I know the radio frequency clearances, alone, are not easy though. Have dealt with DoT on a number of these issues and in obtaining permits to operate. The red tape for it is really long and hasn't changed much since the Raj when the Brits put laws in place to keep tabs on the unruly natives.
 
Any further updates to this? There is nothing on any of the Indian government sites on what happens after you declare your drone? Do you pay duty (how much?) and it is cleared, or is it impounded?
 
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Will be traveling to India soon and would like to hear from someone who has entered via airport with a drone. What was the experience like?

Even if the internet talks about regulations, the day to day enforcement might be different.
 
Will be traveling to India soon and would like to hear from someone who has entered via airport with a drone. What was the experience like?

Even if the internet talks about regulations, the day to day enforcement might be different.

You are now required to declared your drone at Indian Customs upon arrival. They will not let it into the country. New rules went into effect from April 1. I wouldn't risk taking one.

I am currently in India and had to leave my drone behind in California. However, I purchased a new one in India from an online seller.
 
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