Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), in collaboration with Drone Federation India today launched the second edition of the National Innovation Challenge for Drone Application and Research (NIDAR 2.0, 2026-27) under the SwaYaan initiative.The initiative, approved in July 2022 with an outlay of nearly 90 crore rupees, builds the skilled workforce needed for India’s drone sector.
NIDAR 2.0 challenges students to build smarter drones powered by an Indian-made chip. It offers a prize pool of over 65 lakh rupees along with startup incubation, cloud credits, software support and internships for student teams.
Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, MeitY S. Krishnan said, NIDAR 2.0 takes the students from just flying drones to building the drone’s brain. He also launched the problem statements, poster and rulebook for NIDAR 2.0. The Ministry said that the first edition of NIDAR 2025-26 was launched in March 2025.
It drew over 3,000 students from 22 States and 4 Union Territories who built autonomous drone solutions for Disaster Management and Precision Agriculture. 93 teams reached the Grand Finale out which Twenty-four teams won prizes worth a total of 40 lakh rupees.
