New Delhi, August 13, 2026: Hon’ble Union Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan Ji unveiled the indigenous NIKA2 Kisan Medium Drone by AkinAnalytics in New Delhi, highlighting the growing role of advanced drone technology in India’s agricultural ecosystem. The Union Minister witnessed a demonstration of the platform’s capabilities, including its multi-payload design and agricultural applications. The event also brought a MeitY-supported women-led DeepTech startup into focus as India continues to build homegrown technology for strategic and economic sectors.
Agricultural drones are increasingly moving beyond single-purpose applications, and NIKA2 reflects this shift through its combined spraying and spreading capabilities. The platform offers a 16-litre spraying payload and a 13-kg spreading payload, allowing different operations to be carried out through the same drone. It can cover approximately three acres in one sortie under suitable conditions, giving operators the ability to address larger areas within shorter operational cycles.
The drone has also been designed to address the complexities of Indian terrain. Its terrain-following technology enables it to work across varying and undulating landscapes, with applications including tea-estate spraying. The platform supports precision spraying across agricultural crops and can be used for seed and granule spreading. Night-operation capability gives operators additional flexibility, while advanced fail-safe features have been incorporated to improve the reliability of the system.
NIKA2’s potential applications extend into aquaculture as well. The drone can support feed distribution across fish and shrimp ponds, illustrating how one aerial platform can be adapted to requirements beyond traditional crop farming. The broader objective behind the technology is to reduce physical workload, improve operational precision and enable faster execution of tasks that can otherwise require considerable manual effort.
The platform was demonstrated by Janaki Pulaparthi, founder and CEO of AkinAnalytics. A Computer Science Engineer and ISB alumna, Pulaparthi heads a company that operates across DeepTech, AI-augmented drone analytics and multiple sector-specific applications. AkinAnalytics has received support from programmes including NIDHI PRAYAS, Startup India Seed Fund Scheme and MeitY SAMRIDH. Its participation in iDEX and Stanford Seed Spark has further expanded its innovation ecosystem. The company also runs a DGCA-authorised RPTO in Amalapuram.
The unveiling of NIKA2 by Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan Ji comes at a significant time for India’s agricultural technology landscape. The event puts indigenous engineering, women entrepreneurship and precision agriculture into one frame. For AkinAnalytics, the demonstration provides an opportunity to show how its DeepTech capabilities can be adapted to real-world agricultural applications. NIKA2’s multi-purpose architecture and operational features position it as part of a broader movement towards technology-enabled farming, where drones can support not just spraying but a wider range of agricultural and allied activities.
