The Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director is a national film award. For the greater objective of recognising the talent of the Indian debutant director, this award is presented. This award is given in cash to a feature film production after the judgement of the best debut film of an Indian director by jury of the national film awards. In the year 1981 director Utpalendu Chakraborty won this award for the first time for his Bengali debut film, Maina Tadanta.
Following is a list of the winners of the Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director
| Year | Film | Director | Language |
| 2010 | Lahore | Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan | Hindi |
| 2009 | A Wednesday | Neeraj Pandey | Hindi |
| 2008 | Frozen | Shivajee Chandrabhushan | Hindi |
| 2007 | 1. Kabul Express 2. Ekantham |
1. Kabir Khan 2. Madhu Kaithapuram |
1. Hindi 2. Malayalam |
| 2006 | Parineeta | Pradeep Sarkar | Hindi |
| 2005 | Grahanam | Mohan Krishna Indraganti | Telugu |
| 2004 | Margam | Rajiv Vijaya Raghavan | Malayalam |
| 2003 | 1. Patal Ghar 2. Prohor |
1. Abhijit Chaudhary 2. Subhadro Chaudhary |
1. Bengali 2. Bengali |
| 2002 | Thiladaanam | K.N.T. Sastry | Telugu |
| 2001 | Sayahnam | R. Sarath | Malayalam |
| 2000 | 1. Laado 2. Dollar Dreams |
1. Aswini Chowdhary 2. Shekhar Kammula |
1. Haryanvi 2. English |
| 1999 | Daya | Venu | Malayalam |
| 1998 | Bhoothakkannadi | A. K. Lohitha Das | Malayalam |
| 1997 | Rag Birag | Bindhu Chakraborthy | Assamese |
| 1996 | Kahini | Malaya Bhattacharya | Bengali |
| 1995 | Moghamull | G. Rajasekharan | Tamil |
| 1994 | Sunya Theke Suru | Ashok Viswanathan | Bengali |
| 1993 | Mrs. Beatty`s Children | Pamela Rooks | English |
| 1992 | Haldhaar | Sanjeev Hazarika | Assamese |
| 1991 | Perumthachan | Ajayan | Malayalam |
| 1990 | Wosobipo | Gautam Bora | Karbi |
| 1989 | Thrishagni | Nabayendu Ghosh | Hindi |
| 1988 | Ekti Jiban | Raja Mitra | Bengali |
| 1987 | Yeh Woh Manzil To Nahin | Sudhir Mishra | Hindi |
| 1986 | New Delhi Times | Romesh Sharma | Hindi |
| 1985 | Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai | Prathap Pothan | Tamil |
| 1984 | Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron | Kundan Shah | Hindi |
| 1983 | Kann Sivanthaal Mann Sivakkum | Sridhar Rajan | Tamil |
| 1982 | Aadhar Sila | Ashok Ahuja | Hindi |
| 1981 | Maina Tadanta | Utpalendu Chakraborthy | Bengali |