The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), in partnership with the Drone Federation India (DFI), has kicked off the second edition of the National Innovation Challenge for Drone Application and Research (NIDAR 2.0), urging students to push the frontiers of India's drone industry with autonomous drone systems running on the VEGA processor, an indigenously developed chip.
- NIDAR 2.0 promotes autonomous drones using India's VEGA processor
- Challenge offers over Rs 65 lakh in prizes plus incubation and internships
- Supports Atmanirbhar Bharat goals by fostering indigenous drone technology
What happened
MeitY and Drone Federation India have launched the second edition of the National Innovation Challenge for Drone Application and Research (NIDAR 2.0). This competition challenges student teams across India to build autonomous drones and indigenous flight controllers embedded with the VEGA processor, a RISC-V based microprocessor designed under the Digital India RISC-V programme. The initiative marks a progression in the Indian drone sector, promoting the shift from basic drone flying skills to building critical drone technologies domestically.
The competition offers more than Rs 65 lakh in prize money along with startup incubation support, cloud computing resources, software assistance, and corporate internships. Top teams will receive VEGA processor development kits to further innovate their drone hardware and software. The track includes building autonomous swarm drones for disaster relief and GPS-denied drones for indoor industrial inspection, alongside developing flight controllers using indigenous components.
Why it matters
NIDAR 2.0 significantly advances India’s goal of building a self-reliant drone industry by focusing on the development of drone ‘brains’—core avionics and embedded systems designed and manufactured domestically. The use of the VEGA processor, created by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing under MeitY, avoids reliance on foreign chip designs and helps lower licensing costs, strengthening national technology sovereignty.
By encouraging innovations that serve dual civilian and defense use cases, the program aligns with broader government initiatives like Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat @2047. These efforts aim to reduce import dependence and build a competitive, homegrown drone ecosystem that supports disaster management, industrial inspection, and other strategic applications.
What to watch next
The focus will be on monitoring the progress of student teams as they integrate the VEGA processor into autonomous drone platforms and indigenous flight controllers. The development outcomes from this challenge will indicate the maturity of India's drone hardware capabilities and potential for commercial scalability through incubations and corporate partnerships facilitated by the program.
Given the overlap between civilian and defense drone technologies, innovations emerging from NIDAR 2.0 could influence future government drone procurement strategies and policies supporting domestic manufacturing. The success of this program may also encourage wider adoption of open-standard RISC-V architectures in India's broader semiconductor and electronics industries.