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Akshay Kanade on Buying and Flying Drones in India

Show Notes

We’re back with another fantastic episode of Photosynthesis!

Drones are great for capturing landscapes, vistas and cities – but where can you fly them legally and safely? What are the regulations around them? And what care should you take while flying them, so that you’re mindful of others around you?

Akshay Kanade, a drone pilot and a digital creator, has been flying drones for years now. He started with his hometown of Badlapur, but over the last few years, he’s been doing it all over India and even abroad now. We spoke to him to determine how to go about buying and flying a drone.

Listen to the full Podcast on Spotify

Check out Akshay’s stunning work on Instagram – Akshay Kanade

References mentioned in the podcast –
DGCA Official Website
DGCA Approved Training Institutes
DGCA Approved Training Organisations: Line of Sight: Line of Sight
Wix
Squarespace

Indievisual’s Blogs on Drones –
The Legal Landscape For Flying Drones In India
Tips To Get Started With Drone Photography In India: An Interview With Akshay Kanade
Making a Career in Drone Photography
Drones Meeting Animals – How Drones are Supporting Forest Departments in Safeguarding Wildlife?

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Transcript

AKSHAY KANADE 

Vineet  

Hello and welcome back to Photosynthesis where we talk to some of India’s top videographers and photographers. We have with us a special friend of our startup Akshay Kanade who’s basically he did an Insta Live with us which went nowhere. We actually we hated that platform on the whole. Not a fan of Insta Lives. Us time jitte logon hai dekhliya us ke baad gayav. YouTube and Spotify are much better. 

He’s also supported, he’s uploaded a lot of fantastic drone footage on our stock platform and our new stock platform finally is going live very soon. So you’ll be able to see it. We’ll drop a link in the show notes. Bye Akshay! 

akshay  

Hello, hello Vinit and thank you so much for inviting me again on log.com. 

Vineet  

Yeah, we were also trying to figure out how to do this thing. But in spell, I’ve not a fan. 

akshay  

Yeah. 

akshay  

Actually, actually, but this podcast things is great nowadays 

Vineet 

And it’s a safety if something goes wrong, we can pause it. We can edit it. Our editor Praveen by now is used to a child just say Praveen cut and he knows what to do. Instantly it was happening. So I know Mark Zuckerberg is listening to us. Mark, come on man, improve your platform. So unless he’s busy fighting Elon. So Akshay Kanade is one of the best drone photographers I’ve seen. 

akshay  

Yeah. 

akshay  

Yeah, exactly. That’s the main advantage. 

Vineet  

and some of the footage I have seen is absolutely gorgeous. Tell us about your journey from Badlapur onwards. 

akshay  

Okay, okay. So I’m comfortable very much comfortable in Hindi and my followers are you know mixed in Hindi, English, Marathi. So Hindi is good. Okay great. So I’ll tell you my story. You know, I went to Dubai with my wife on my first anniversary. And as you all know that Dubai is a shopping destination. So… 

Vineet  

Uh-huh. 

Vineet  

Hindi is good man, Hindi is good. 

akshay  

I had decided to buy something and this is the story of November in November, there was a Black Friday sale going on 

akshay  

I already had a camera and a photography shop But I saw a drone there And I thought that How do you look from above with a drone? Let’s try to find out So my wife was like, it’s so expensive I won’t be able to do any shopping if you buy a 1.5 lakh drone 

I was like no, you won’t get it in India. And I took that drone by force. And I started exploring… Sorry. 

Vineet  

Is the wedding still going on? 

akshay  

Yes, yes, yes. The wedding is still going on. So, yeah, I started exploring how the aerial view looks like. I live in Badlapur, a small town near Mumbai. I used to capture photos and videos from up there in the early days. And Insta was booming at that time. So I used to upload on Insta. 

I don’t know how I used to do it, what I used to do, I just used to upload those contents. And people saw it, people at that time, this story is actually from 2.5-3 years ago. So at that time, the drone was a little new in the market. That view was different, that perspective was different for people. So… 

People started saying that their town looks so beautiful from above Because I will tell you a speciality of my town My town has nature and buildings too Both are there So from above no one had seen how the town looks People were liking those videos And my followers started increasing But I was actually doing my job side by side Basically I am an instrument engineer 

I was also working at that time. I didn’t have any idea that I would quit my job and become a drone pilot or commercial drone pilot. After a year, I got my first contract. I remember that contract was only Rs. 2500. I didn’t expect to get some money. I was like, okay, I will fly a drone. I don’t know how I will fly it. 

akshay  

So I flew it and they liked the footage too. And while doing this, my journey started. I started getting contracts from people on Instagram. Like, earlier I used to do weddings, wedding events, pre-weddings, all this. Just for drone. And as I was uploading on Instagram, my followers started increasing and people were liking it. 

I liked that perspective and I was also feeling something different So I got interested in that And the thing is that Corona came in between My job got disturbed So my wife was like You leave this now, I am doing the job We want to pursue your career in drone industry, aerial industry Then just go for it 

akshay  

It was a hard decision for me but I took it at that time. And now it’s been two years. Right now I am a full time government licensed pilot. Drone licensed pilot. And yes, now my client base, real estate property, then survey, map survey, events, all this is my clients and I am doing the same business full time. That’s my job. 

Vineet (06:20.288) 

That’s amazing man. And so many questions, so many questions. Licensing, work prospects, nature, so many questions. Where to start? Let’s start licensing. Government certified drone pilot. Because this is an area of confusion for a lot of people. Legality is an area of confusion for a lot of people. Zoning is an area where you can do it and where you can’t. Let’s start with licensing. We discussed this on Instagram Live. It’s actually going into more detail here because 50 people saw it on Instagram Live. 

akshay  

Yeah. 

akshay  

Thank you. You got that. 

akshay  

Yeah. 

Vineet 

How does one get a license and why does one need a license? 

akshay 

Okay, so if you want to enter the drone industry, whether you do it in event photography, whether you do it in map survey, or whatever, but I would recommend you to take a drone license first. And that drone license is such that it is a government site, it is a digital sky. It is a DGCA, the one that controls the DGCA. 

There is a website called DGCAA Sky You can register there There are some list of top 20-30 institutes of India Where you have to do 7 days drone training course It is called RPC, Remote Pilot Course After that DGCA gives you a license 

So why should you get a license when you are working in government or shooting property It’s the same like a car license, you are not doing anything wrong or you know how to fly a drone To show this to people you need a license, as it is also in the drone industry Let’s say I don’t have a license, I am flying a drone today 

I am flying a drone on a construction site in a city and the people around me are getting disturbed by that, their privacy is getting disturbed 

akshay  

So they will be thinking that this guy is disturbing my privacy or he is trying to capture some videos from drone which are not related to our constructions or buildings. This can come in their mind. They may have this in their mind but they will think about it. But if I get a drone license, 

akshay  

or in training they are taught that this is what you have to do and this is what you don’t have to do this side you have to fly privacy should not be disturbed if I show them a license then they will agree or if I show a license to a police then they will agree that yes, whatever he is doing is actual work he is not doing anything fake so yes you should take the license 

Vineet  

So, and where does this license come from? This is a DGCA license, right? 

akshay 

This is a DGCA license which is provided by three institutions in Mumbai. Jatayu, DroneTech and Bombay Flying Club. They have 7 days course which is drone training. After that you have to give the exam. 

and after that we will get a license in next 15 days. 

Vineet  

We will put the links in the show notes So whether you are on Spotify or YouTube, you can check it out Nothing here is sponsored We will just put links on everything that is mentioned here 

akshay  

So, so, yeah. 

Vineet  

So great, so this is a license. Now let’s get into the technology. Now let’s get into the drone itself. Of course you would need a drone, right? Before taking the license, you would need your own drone. I would assume. 

akshay  

That’s actually not compulsory to get a drone before your course actually. Because the institute you will learn from, their Indian made drones stay there. So you will get training on those Indian made drones. Then once you get a license you can purchase the other drone. 

Vineet  

Now, this is the licensing. Now, let’s get into the drone. Now, what is the legality of drones in India? What drones are legal, what are not? Size, weight, what are the parameters that are applicable here? 

akshay  

Thank you for your time. 

akshay  

DGCA has made drones in 5 categories First category is Nano category Nano category drones are up to 250 grams Second category is Micro category 

akshay  

And the third comes small, which has 2 kg to 25 kg. I will not go into the rest of the case because it is very heavy and it is not being used in India yet. 

Vineet  

And that will be used industrially or defensively. So let’s leave that. 

akshay  

Yes. So now we will talk about Nano Gattai. Nano Gattai should have weight upto 250 grams. 

akshay  

You are in this world famous 

akshay  

It is made in China. So the drones of it, some 2-3 drones, they come in the Nano category. Now the advantage of the Nano category is that you don’t have to register your drone on DGC or DGC-A platform. You don’t need to register that drone. But there are some restrictions on 

in nano category tools. So what are the restrictions? You can fly up to 120 meter only, you know, altitude level, you can fly only up to 120 meters. 

Vineet  

20 meters or 400 feet roughly. 120 meters from ground. So if I am on the 36th floor then I am already at the limit. Right, not like 120 meters from here. This is a technical thing or a government? 

akshay  

Yes. 

akshay  

This is the technical thing. Actually, if you are on 36th floor and you are taking off from there, then it will go up to 120 meters from there. 

akshay  

It’s a government thing. 

Vineet 

Take care. 

akshay 

Talking about the second category drone, micro category which comes up to 2 kg. 80% of drones in India belong to this category. Because most of the drones in India are not agricultural drones which come in small category. 

akshay  

Micro category drones are used for shooting purposes. Any shooting. For that you have to register your drone on DGC. 

akshay  

and then comes the small category which comes up to 25 kg which is starting to be used in various industries like i-gift, shipping, mapping, surveying etc. 

Vineet  

Sure, so let’s talk about the first two categories only. Because, we are talking to those who have entered the drone photography or want to enter, so the bigger categories, small categories, it’s a matter of time. They will enter after taking that expertise. So now, one is done, which drone we can buy. Second is where to use. There are restrictions for this too. How does one know where to use is allowed or not? 

Where is it? Because it’s near the airport etc. I can’t find out where it’s allowed or not. 

akshay  

Thank you. 

akshay  

So, as you asked me earlier which drone to buy 90% of people buy it only for shooting purposes DJI is the only option DJI uses any drone for shooting purposes and where and how you can fly that drone in India 

Vineet  

Hmm. 

akshay  

So you can check on digital sky platform of DGCA They have given an aerospace map So in that map you can see where you can fly There are red circles there So you don’t have to fly in red circle 

akshay  

Now, why is this a red circle? There are airports, military bases, Indian borders, government offices etc. 

Vineet  

And this is a GPS link app, so if I go to a beach and I want to check if I can use it here or not It will tell me if it is allowed here or not Amazing! 

akshay  

Yeah, exactly. 

akshay  

We can talk about DJI because it is the name of the market. In the application of DJI, when you fly the drone, you can see the map of DJI which is connected to the map of Digital Sky. You will understand if you are allowed to fly the drone or not. 

Vineet  

Nice. 

akshay  

If you don’t want to fly, you will see a red circle there. So you can’t fly there. 

Vineet  

Perfect. 

So now let’s get into the technical, why only DJI? Because camera quality? 

akshay  

Yes, just because not just because camera quality. Yeah, camera quality is the best in DJI no doubt. 

But the other features that the company is giving, like you know, very lightweight drones, its battery backup, its noise, all this is, I don’t think so, in my opinion, there is any other company that has given so many features and that too in a nominal price that we can afford. 

Vineet 

And Nano versus Micro, one more question. How should one choose the cost? Obviously, is there an inherent benefit to going Micro? I’m guessing longer battery life, more height. And with the corresponding thing being that the cost will be more. Micro’s. And secondly, I believe correct me if I’m wrong, that when I have to register, which means every time I want to fly it, I have to use the app. I have to say I am now going to fly this drone. 

akshay  

Yeah. 

akshay  

Yeah. 

Vineet  

right on a microphone. 

akshay  

Good night. 

Vineet  

Thank you. 

akshay  

Nano drone has both requirements but camera capabilities and wind resistance of nano drone are less according to micro drone and cost also 

Vineet  

and cost. So there is literally no other company in the world that you would recommend. DJI, Heal and I because of the camera quality. Again this is not a sponsored show. 

akshay  

I don’t recommend that you buy any other company’s drone because you know in India these days DJI’s services are good after sales. 

Vineet  

Thanks for watching. 

akshay  

Yes, there is no other option. There are many companies in the world that are coming up. But to be very frank, there is no one around EJI. 

Vineet  

Yeah, and because I was hunting on a couple of international websites a year ago. And options are there, but I see their camera quality. If I go to YouTube and see video quality, it looks like it was shot with a RECO camera in 2003. I have never seen such quality in this era. And then you see DJI’s output, which looks like you’ve been doing this for three years. Why can’t everyone match up? 

akshay  

Thanks for watching! 

akshay  

This is what we do. 

akshay  

Exactly. 

Vineet  

because of the camera quality. Why is there so much difference? 

akshay  

Exactly, they have the same technology that they don’t watch videos below 4K. And if any other company is giving us full HD video recording, we won’t be able to see it. Our eyes have become so used to 4K and to watch such crisp videos. 

So we will not be able to see that. And the same media production will have the requirement that minimum you need this camera for your drone then only you will get this contact, then only you can work. 

Vineet  

and resolution and contrast levels the quality of the video yeah 

akshay  

The sensor of the camera is very much important. 

Vineet  

So now let’s look at the Indian scene. What about Indian manufacturing? Now Make in India, PLIs, it’s been promoted for a long time. Have you seen any good Indian companies coming up? I know this is, this might not be your area of expertise, but have you seen it? Like if you have you researched, have you looked around? 

akshay  

Yes, yes, yes. Recently my friend bought an Indian made drone. I saw it flying. Its name is IZI. The name of the company is IZI. I think it is available on Amazon. It is an affordable drone. But when I say my drone, I mean… 

Vineet  

IZAC. 

akshay  

DJI drones, I will compare them and I think that the company will take 2-3 years to come into contact with DJI. 

Vineet  

Because I even saw one in Shark Tank Season 2 Jyotna they were flying their drone around inside the room with the judges The quality is very good I hope others catch up because it’s a monopoly But It is a monopoly actually, it is absolutely a monopoly 

akshay  

Absolutely. You can say Monopoly is the whole world. 

Vineet 

Let’s hope somebody and let’s hope an Indian brand catches up. 

akshay  

Yeah, they are trying. Actually, there are many companies that are making drones and we would like to see Indian companies come forward. But it will take time, I think in 3-5 years. Yeah, definitely they will make a drone that not every Indian can take. 

Vineet 

I’m actually amazed that these 3 companies have made amazing camera sensors Sony, Nikon, Canon Why are they not tying up with a drone manufacturer to actually make high quality video footage 

akshay  

Yeah right, because I also thought about this thing a lot because this is a very successful company in their camera But somewhere it seems that they want to go further in this Like DSLR, like mirrorless, DSLR has mirrorless and in 10 years more will come So I think that 

Vineet 

Hmm. 

akshay  

They want to go ahead in the camera category and it’s good that they are not in the drone category This technology is different Only the camera is left and there is a lot of things in the drone that gives DJI 

Vineet  

Okay. 

Vineet  

I’m hoping they still tie up with someone who can do the drone part and sensor because their 1 inch sensors are so amazing. Even if you look at the A5100, it is like Sony A5100 which is a I think a 1 inch sensor. Their image quality is so much better than any other drone that I’ve seen well outside of the GRI. Yes. And now let’s get to the now if someone wants to build a career. 

akshay  

I keep going. 

akshay 

And we’ll see you in the next session. Yeah. 

Vineet  

in especially in drone videography. Now there were a few categories you mentioned. Surveys, the ones I have seen are of course tourism footage. There is real estate, that’s a big one. Weddings is a big one. If someone wants to enter this area, let’s say they have done drone videography as a hobby for 1-2 years, they know how to use it very well. And some eye for detail, eye for creative eye has also come. 

akshay  

Okay. 

Vineet  

How to start earning that first 2500 rupees you got? From where should you get it? How to find it? 

akshay  

So, today, if we talk about the current situation, then Instagram and YouTube are such platforms where you can build your portfolio and you can attract people and increase their reach. So, let’s just say that I want to enter wedding or event photography. So, prepare your portfolio in such a way that your current… 

put it in your portfolio and spread it so what will happen is you will also do that the drone pilots in your competition you are better or less than them according to that you tell your charge so this can be a starting point and once you know 

akshay  

As I said earlier, it took me a year to develop client-based products and now I don’t have to approach touch food as I have done a lot of work in the market so people ask me if I can do this or that 

akshay  

But drone industry is such that you will get a boost if you have started it now. So definitely there is a vast industry here. 

Vineet  

So let’s go area by area. Weddings of course is big business. How should one get into this? Should one tie up with a wedding planner? Should one speak to a wedding videographer? That I know someone who I have. Next time you add one who has a requirement, call me. 

akshay  

Exactly, exactly. What I did was, let me tell you my experience. I have a couple of wedding photographers, they were like, I’m having a pre-wedding in Alibag next week, so do one thing, if you want to take some drone shots, I’ll take them. I was like, yes, okay, that’s fine. And I didn’t have any charge at that time, I didn’t have any idea. 

So, you can make few days or 5-6 shoots for free for wedding film Do pre-wedding, fly the drone in wedding So, in this way your portfolio will be bigger Same 

akshay  

You will understand the level of your shot, timing, etc. This is your talent. 

akshay  

You can also understand from your clients that you have taken this wrong or right. So you can develop it according to that. And once you understand that you are doing the right thing and you will be able to go further. Then you can approach other wedding planners on Instagram. That I do this and that, this is my portfolio, so if something happens, do let me know. 

I have done it this way and it works. 

Vineet  

What about survey work? Does survey work come from the government? 

akshay  

It’s not always a government project actually. There are private projects too. It’s like, recently I have done a project for Nathpur Mumbai Highway, Sambhrudi Mahamar. So it’s for the government but their contractors, the government who don’t have a contract. 

From there I got this project, like 20 km road, I had to shoot and give it to them. It’s a survey, what is there, how much work has been done, roads, next to the roads, all this I have to show them in a video. So we can get a survey from a private like this. 

Vineet  

And I’m guessing the election area next year, a lot of government work will come directly or indirectly to showcase the progress that has been done on infrastructure or MPs and MLAs across the country to showcase. We spoke to stock photographer Dinesh Gaur, he was actually saying that this is going to be of very interesting use. And here drone photography obviously becomes a very, very important factor. Yeah. And 

akshay  

Yeah, yeah, right. 

akshay  

Okay. 

akshay  

Good night. 

Vineet  

portfolio building, then Insta is obviously one great, like the whole world is on Insta right now. Website is also important to develop. Google ads, websites, and can you just, what is your experience? 

akshay  

Okay. 

If you speak about the website, you should develop your own website and have a portfolio If you want to go on a professional level, you should have a website But instead of investing in website development or website web designer 

akshay  

video. 

Vineet 

Yeah. And even I would say actually even about web development wise, I have happily used Wix for many years. W I X Wix and Squarespace. They specialize in basically portfolios for photographers, for creative people. Uh, Wix is much cheaper than India plans are much, much cheaper. Squarespace I think is 15 to $16 a month, which is Wix. So I think for many years I was paying 500 rupees a year or something. So it’s. 

akshay  

Okay. 

akshay  

Okay. Yeah, right. Okay. 

Vineet  

very reasonable, very affordable and easy. Like a good website. So yeah, so I would recommend key rather than finding a web developer and you know, putting a lot of effort into it. Of course WordPress is better before SEO and whatnot, but I think keep your life simple for now, I would recommend you use one of these online web development tools. Yeah. And build your portfolio there.  

. Since I have a drone photography expert with me, I am going to ask you how to take care of your drone. Because this is also a risky issue. Battery life, range, I don’t want it flying into a cloud and then disappearing. I don’t want it crashing into a tree. 

akshay  

Tell him, tell him. Okay, bye. 

Vineet  

What precautions should be taken if I am buying such an expensive drone? Which I am guessing a good one would be 50-60 LTE 1 lakhs 

akshay  

Yeah, yeah, right, right. 

Vineet 

What precautions should I take? 

akshay  

So when we talk about any category of drone, whether it is 50,000 or 3 lakhs, wherever we fly, whether it is a public area or a ground… 

First of all, we have to turn on the drone and when you turn it on in your remote, then you have to let it catch the GPS. You know it will take not more than 3 to 5 minutes, but once we get the GPS, the drone connects to your GPS, then the advantage is that it saves the coordinates in your drone or remote control. 

What are the benefits of saving coordinates? Let’s say you are flying a drone and one kilometer is away from your sight and the signal is lost A signal is made and remote is turned off 

Vineet 

Is it line of sight or GPS through track? 

akshay  

It’s a line of sight 1 km away. But if it goes out of the line of sight and the range is gone, then these coordinates are useful to you. That drone will automatically come to you after the lost signal. So this is the main advantage that you can turn on the GPS and put the drone. 

Vineet  

I’m guessing this is a DJI or a fancier drone feature. If you’re buying a $6000 drone from AliExpress, it won’t come back. 

akshay  

Exactly. 

akshay  

After that, if you are flying in public areas, then first you need to take proper permission, local police permission, local authorities permission, it is very important to take that permission because you are flying in public areas. Like a beach, like a market, like you know there are many buildings, you have a construction site project, a real estate project. 

you should have the authority to do that. 

Vineet  

So where should we get permission from? Local Police Station or… 

akshay  

You will get permission from local police station. You can tell them what you want to use in return. And for what time, for how long. If your client is there, like I am working for a builder, then we have to submit the signature and details of the builder to the police station. 

Vineet 

practically are cops aware? I used to go scuba diving in Pondicherry and there the scuba divers were telling me one day they came out of the sea onto the beach wearing all their tanks and stuff and the local guys got so scared that they locked them there. I don’t know from where they are taking their equipment and leaving the sea. So are cops aware that this… 

safety issue. Like what’s your experience with the regional and local police stations? 

akshay  

I will tell you my own experience. There is a waterfall near Badlapur called Kudiran Waterfall. So it’s a, you know… 

That is the part of the forest department So I was flying the drone there Now in such places Generally we don’t need permission Or we shouldn’t need it But there was a forest officer And as soon as I flew the drone For 5 minutes He came to me And told me to take the drone down And delete all your data I asked why Here is something I told him 

There are no security reasons, I am just looking at the footage of the waterfall They said that this forest comes under the forest department So you have to get permission for this first Only after that you can fly here So where there are no security reasons, there are restrictions So there are many restrictions in other places So we should not take that permission first 

Vineet  

And last is how to just be mindful. Now, if you are in a tourist area, if you are on the beach, what precautions do you take? You know, you’re not interrupting anyone’s privacy. They are sitting comfortably on the beach. No, they also don’t want to be photographed. They don’t want to be disturbed. You can hear the sound of the drone. Like what precautions do you take? How do you, what kind of distance do you maintain? 

akshay  

Good luck. 

akshay  

I will tell you my experience, when you fly drone on beach and the beach is crowded, I will recommend you to fly drone there only. 

akshay  

come in the photo or from above, they become cautious so I don’t recommend flying in this place there are few people there, you can ask them if you can fly a drone I want to take this footage, if you don’t want to come in the footage, don’t worry if they give you permission, you can fly 

Vineet  

But it is important to be mindful of this because eventually it is a camera. You are actively pointing a camera, whatever distance into a person’s face. So they have a right to their own privacy also. Especially on a beach. 

akshay  

Exactly. 

akshay  

Yeah, right. 

Vineet  

Great! This was great advice for a beginner, I would say. Beginner or someone getting better at drone photography. And what next? Where are you traveling to next? What are you going to photograph next? 

akshay  

I am planning to visit Vietnam in the month of October actually to get more drone shots. Yeah, thanks. 

Vineet  

And to answer that question, what are like export and import norms, if I have to take my drone outside? Is there any precautionary to take? Like I need permission. 

akshay  

Great question and this question is asked by many of my friends in the last 6 months We will talk about airlines When we travel to other cities like Mumbai, Thailand or Delhi Both have the same rule When you travel with your drone 

akshay  

So you should take the precaution that you should keep your drone without battery in the check-in bag Like we take the ticket and you should keep it in the check-in bag How to keep it? Generally airlines give fake fax in the bag issue So you should not lose your drone 

akshay  

you can wrap it in your towels or clothes and keep it in a good bag. 

Vineet  

and separate the rotors, because otherwise it can break How delicate is a drone? Should I separate the rotors? How delicate is a drone? 

akshay  

Sorry. 

akshay  

It’s a router, you can keep it with you, but if I talk about batteries or remote, batteries, fly more component, batteries and remote control, because remote control also has batteries. So these 2-3 parts should go into your handbag on your security check. 

akshay  

If you follow these rules, then no one can stop you in the whole world. Why are you taking the drone? Where are you taking it? 

Vineet  

And what about permissions, customs, no issues? 

akshay  

Yes, the permission is that if you are bringing a drone from another country, they will not let you bring it unless you tell them that you have already used that drone. You know, that’s the trick actually. But… 

If you are bringing the entire box, you will not be allowed to enter the custom box in India. 

Vineet  

So this is another important question, I cannot import a drone, I have to buy one that is meant for India. Is that true? 

akshay  

It’s actually true that they want you to buy Indian made drone But yes, if you want to purchase a DJI drone in India You will get no bill You will not get any bill And secondly, you will get it at a higher price If we are buying a 50,000 drone in Dubai or USA 

we have to pay 80-90 thousand rupees for it in India. Without a penny. 

Vineet  

And if there is a drone from outside, can it be registered in India? 

akshay  

Yes, drone is registered in India too. If I am going to stay in Dubai and I want to come to India as a tourist and fly drone in India, I will have to go to India’s website and register my drone first. And then you will have to fly the drone by looking at the map. 

Vineet  

By the way, these are all issues of legality so please do your own research properly. Do not tell me or Akshay that you said it. Please do your own research. These are very heavy questions of legality and these norms also keep changing. When we are recording this video, you could be watching this a year later. So please verify these things when you are buying a drone. Yes, back to Vietnam. Where? Where in Vietnam? 

akshay  

Thanks for watching! 

akshay  

Yeah, exactly. I have planned to visit Hanui, Dana and Ho Chi Minh. Let’s see, explore more and make it my itinerary. I am basically going for drone shots only because there are many UNESCO World Heritage sites. 

where I can fly a drone and capture good landscapes. There are rice fields, there are many things there. So let’s see what all can be captured. I will definitely share with you. 

Vineet 

Great, this is great and yes please do upload at least your Indian footage. So Akshay has been uploading a lot of his fantastic drone footage on our website, on our stock footage website individual.in. As we were discussing new site, well it should be, it will be live by the time you watch this or hear this. So go and search for his footage. He’s uploaded some amazing footage from all over India and if you need any stock visuals, Indian stock visuals. 

own footage for your own purposes for your own social media feeds you can buy them from individual.in and yeah I think most likely Akshay’s footage will be the best ones you’ll see so thanks Akshay for joining us 

akshay  

Yeah, thank you very much. 

Vineet  

And thanks everyone for tuning in. See you next time. In the meanwhile, show notes me saare links hum daane ge. Stay tuned. Bye bye. 

akshay  

Bye bye. 

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