India's aviation regulator has banned the use of a particular power bank on flights, according to a report by The Economic Times, making it the latest in a series of measures targeting lithium-battery accessories carried into aircraft cabins.

The directive singles out one specific power bank model rather than the broader category of portable chargers, a departure from the general rules that already restrict spare lithium batteries to carry-on baggage and cap their capacity. Passengers holding the affected model will now have to leave it out of their cabin kit on Indian flights.

What does the ban actually cover?

The regulator's action applies to use of the named power bank aboard aircraft. Existing framework rules in India, consistent with international practice, already prohibit spare lithium-ion batteries and power banks from checked baggage and require passengers to carry them in the cabin, where a thermal event can be spotted and contained quickly.

By naming an individual product, the regulator moves from category-level policy to item-level enforcement — a step usually taken when a specific model has been linked to overheating, fire or failure reports. The Economic Times did not specify which model is covered or the incidents that triggered the decision.

Why do power banks draw regulatory attention?

Power banks are lithium-ion cells in an unregulated shell. Unlike an airline-approved spare battery, consumer chargers vary widely in cell quality, protection circuitry and true versus labelled capacity. A single failure mode — thermal runaway — can propagate cell to cell and produce a fire that burns hot enough to threaten a cabin if it starts in an overhead bin or seat pocket.

The Economic Times report frames the ban as a safety measure directed at that risk profile, with the named model now barred from use in flight.

What should passengers and airlines expect?

For passengers, the practical consequence is simple: the affected power bank stays out of the cabin, or at least switched off and unused, on Indian flights covered by the directive. For airlines, cabin crew now carry one more item to police during boarding and in-flight service — a task that has grown as passenger lithium devices multiply.

For the regulator, an item-specific ban signals a willingness to act on product-level risk rather than wait for category-wide incidents to accumulate. Whether that approach widens to other models will depend on how the named power bank's failure record develops and whether further battery-related events occur in Indian airspace.

Further details on the specific model, the effective date of the restriction and any enforcement mechanism should be confirmed with the regulator's official circular.