What it costs to enter Baja SAEINDIA, step by step

Baja SAEINDIA is the student competition where undergraduate teams design, build and race a single-seat all-terrain vehicle. It is run by SAEINDIA, the Indian arm of SAE International, and it is the most common way an Indian engineering student gets to build a complete vehicle before graduating. Here is the money and the paperwork, in order.

What it costs

The official team registration guidelines for Baja SAEINDIA 2027 set the entry fee in two parts. The virtual round is ₹25,000 plus 18 percent GST, which is ₹29,500. The physical round is ₹55,000 plus 18 percent GST, which is ₹64,900. The first instalment is paid at registration and the second after the virtual round is done, through the ICICI eazypay portal. The fee is not refundable.

There are waivers. A new team gets a 10 percent waiver, a new all-girls team gets 25 percent, and a returning all-girls team gets a 10 percent subsidy. Teams that register in the early bird window get up to ₹8,000 off. Teams with 10 or more female participants get a ₹8,000 bonus, and a team at its 25-member limit can add 5 more female members at no extra fee. If you want extra first year or second year members as interns, they cost ₹2,500 each for male students and ₹2,000 for female students.

Then there is the car. SAEINDIA Southern Section, which runs the Chennai edition, lists a target cost of ₹2,50,000 for the vehicle itself, with a Rehlko CH 395-3153 engine or a BLDC motor depending on category. Travel, tooling and spares sit on top of that, and most teams raise it through college funds and sponsors.

The steps, in order

First, your college needs an operational SAEINDIA collegiate club with at least 50 active student members and 2 faculty advisors, plus an active club bank account for prize money. Second, every single participant needs a valid SAEINDIA membership. A student membership is ₹472 a year including GST, and a first year student can pay ₹2,478 once for four years plus a year of associate membership. Faculty pay ₹1,298 under 28 years of age, ₹1,652 above that, or ₹11,800 for ten years.

Third, register on the Baja portal with your institution details, verify by email OTP, fill the team profile with bank details and lock it. Then add every member with their SAE membership ID card, college ID and a government ID, and a driving licence for whoever is named driver and co-driver. You then designate a captain, vice-captain, driver and co-driver. Team size is a minimum of 5 students and 1 faculty advisor, up to 30 students and 2 advisors. Members must be at least 18. An eBAJA team needs at least 2 members from electrical, electronics or IT streams.

Pick your category at this stage. MBAJA is the petrol engine class, eBAJA is battery electric, hBAJA runs an hCNG-injected engine, and aBAJA is the autonomous class, which opens for registration separately.

The calendar

Plan a year ahead. For the 2027 edition, early bird registration was a two-hour window on 21 March 2026, regular registration ran from 22 March to 8 April 2026, the virtual round payment was due 18 April 2026 and the physical round payment on 15 August 2026.

The final itself runs 19 to 21 March 2027 at Coimbatore, per the SAEINDIA event calendar, so southern teams have a short tow. If autonomy is your thing, aBAJA is live now: the Phase 1 guidelines for aBAJA 2027 require a 15-slide presentation and an online quiz, with submissions due by 21 November at 23:59 IST. ABAJA's own fees last season were ₹23,600 for Phase 1 and ₹59,000 for Phases 2 and 3.

Sources

• BAJA SAEINDIA 2027 Team Registration Guidelines
• BAJA SAEINDIA: How to participate
• SAEINDIA membership FAQ
• SAEINDIA Event Calendar 2026-2027
• BAJA SAEINDIA Chennai 2026-27, SAEINDIA Southern Section
• Preliminary Round Guidelines, aBAJA 2027
• aBAJA SAEINDIA 2026 Registration Guidelines