As drones take off under fresh rules, insuring their flight still has a host of teething troubles

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A Noida Police official uses drones to keep a vigil amid the second wave of the pandemic.

Synopsis
Drone insurance hasn’t taken off in a big way in India. But the new guidelines for drones, issued in August 2021, have brought a ray of hope for non-life insurers as they now hope to take their business to the next level. Despite that, scalability is still a cause for worry. Hence, there’s disenchantment among reinsurers towards this emerging segment.

On August 25, 2021, the Ministry of Civil Aviation notified the Drone Rules, 2021. The development has come as a big surprise for insurers and has got them into action as they are currently busy framing policies to cover unmanned aerial vehicles or drones. The pandemic, limited resources and other learnings from the unfortunate times have increased the relevance of drones and having them insured so as to prevent loss of life and business. Drones