New Delhi: The Blockchain India Challenge (BIC) was launched by S. Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), on 23rd February 2026 at MeitY, New Delhi, marking a major step toward advancing blockchain-driven digital governance in India.
The Blockchain India Challenge aims to encourage Indian startups to develop and pilot cutting-edge blockchain-based solutions for government use cases.
The launch event of the Blockchain India Challenge was attended by Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, MeitY; Sudeep Srivastava, Joint Secretary, MeitY; Sunita Verma, Group Coordinator, MeitY; Manoj Kumar Jain, Group Coordinator, MeitY; and P R Lakshmi Eswari, Scientist G & Centre Head, C-DAC Hyderabad, along with other officials from MeitY and C-DAC. Representatives from various government departments and startups were also present.
The Blockchain India Challenge is being implemented by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) with the support of MeitY.
The national initiative is designed to encourage visionary Indian startups to pitch and pilot cutting-edge blockchain-based digital governance solutions.
The primary objective of the Blockchain India Challenge is to develop Permissioned Blockchain-based solutions that prioritize regulatory control and security, including trust, auditability, and tamper-proof records, specifically for government use cases.
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Blockchain India Challenge: Addressing Critical Governance and Service Delivery Challenges
The Blockchain India Challenge focuses on addressing critical governance and service delivery challenges across domains such as e-procurement, supply chain management, public distribution systems, education, healthcare, agriculture, power, Internet of Things (IoT), land records, and environment and sustainability.
While these domains are indicative, the BIC allows startups to propose impactful solutions beyond the listed areas in collaboration with government departments.
Addressing the gathering during the Blockchain India Challenge, Secretary MeitY said that blockchain plays an important role in government services by enabling verifiability aspects and establishing a single source of truth across multiple systems, thereby bringing transparency and efficiency.
He noted that in addition to the 10 identified use case categories, startups can explore other impactful use cases relevant to government departments.
He further directed teams from C-DAC and MeitY to work toward wider proliferation of the Blockchain India Challenge across the startup community and drive the development of field-ready and deployable use cases that can be scaled across India.
As part of the Blockchain India Challenge, startups recognized by DPIIT in collaboration with government departments will have the opportunity to transform their ideas into real-world, high-impact solutions.
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Selected startups will receive stage-wise funding support for developing ten impactful blockchain-based use cases across ten different categories for government departments.
Eligible startups are invited to participate in the Blockchain India Challenge and pitch their innovative ideas to develop solutions for the identified application areas in collaboration with government departments.
Startups are encouraged to sign up to receive regular updates on Blockchain India Challenge engagements. Detailed information on eligibility criteria, registration process, use cases, guidelines, intellectual property rights (IPR), and other related aspects is available on the official challenge website.
