NIDAR 2.0 Drives India’s Indigenous Drone Technology Push

NIDAR 2.0 Strengthens Drone Innovation

NIDAR 2.0 Drives India’s Indigenous Drone Technology Push: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), in partnership with Drone Federation India (DFI), launched NIDAR 2.0 for 2026–27 under the SwaYaan initiative. Announced on 13 July 2026, the programme focuses on developing advanced autonomous drones and indigenous drone technologies.

The challenge moves beyond basic drone assembly by encouraging students to develop the intelligence, electronics and control systems required for next-generation unmanned aircraft.

Static GK Tip: MeitY is the Union ministry responsible for policies and programmes related to electronics, information technology and digital governance in India.

Major Features of the Challenge

NIDAR 2.0 offers a prize pool of more than ₹65 lakh along with startup incubation, internships, cloud computing credits and software support. These incentives are designed to help student innovators transform prototypes into commercially viable technologies.

The programme also supports India’s broader objectives of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat @2047 by reducing dependence on imported drone electronics and foreign processor technologies.

Two Innovation Tracks

The competition has two principal tracks. Track 1 focuses on drone innovation, while Track 2 targets indigenous drone components and electronics.

Under the first track, teams will work on autonomous systems for applications such as disaster response, survivor detection, medical-supply delivery and GPS-denied navigation. These challenges are intended to test drone capabilities in situations where conventional communication or positioning systems may be unavailable.

The second track focuses on developing indigenous flight controllers, autopilot systems and drone-control electronics. Selected teams will receive VEGA processor development kits for prototype development and system integration.

VEGA Processor Adds Indigenous Capability

A key feature of NIDAR 2.0 is the integration of the VEGA processor, an indigenous microprocessor family developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) under MeitY’s Microprocessor Development Programme.

VEGA is based on the RISC-V open-standard instruction set architecture. Its use in drone systems can support the development of domestically designed computing and control technologies.

Static GK fact: RISC-V is an open-standard instruction set architecture that allows processors to be designed without dependence on proprietary instruction-set licensing.

Benefits for Student Innovators

NIDAR 2.0 combines competition with long-term ecosystem support. Winning and selected teams can gain access to incubation facilities, internships, cloud resources, software assistance and commercialisation opportunities.

This approach can help connect academic innovation with industry requirements and encourage students to pursue entrepreneurship in emerging technologies.

SwaYaan Initiative

NIDAR 2.0 operates under SwaYaan, whose full form is Capacity Building for Human Resource Development in Unmanned Aircraft Systems. The initiative was approved by MeitY in July 2022 with an overall outlay of approximately ₹89.87 crore over five years.

Its objectives include developing skilled manpower, promoting indigenous drone research, strengthening academia-industry collaboration and encouraging entrepreneurship in unmanned aircraft systems.

Strategic Importance

The initiative strengthens India’s capabilities across drones, electronics, processors and autonomous systems. By encouraging domestic design and development, NIDAR 2.0 can contribute to a more self-reliant technology ecosystem.

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