Gandhinagar, Aug 08: IIT Gandhinagar’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center in partnership with Bank of Baroda hosted the Grand Finale of PSB Hackathon 2026 on Artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, fraud detection, financial inclusion and digital banking on August 07, 2026, in partnership with Bank of Baroda. The Hackathon highlighted the role of Academia in driving the digital transformation of the financial sector by providing a platform for the country’s best student innovators to build technology-driven answers to real issues facing Public Sector Banks (PSBs) of India.
At the Grand Finale, 17 finalist teams shortlisted from over 450 applications received for the hackathon, presented innovative prototypes to an expert jury comprising senior academicians, banking professionals and technology experts nationwide. Projects that tackle major challenges in areas like AI-driven banking services, fraud detection, cybersecurity and customer experience, Digital payments, financial inclusion, Process automation and Data analytics.
The hackathon was a platform to bridge the gap between academia and industry by encouraging students to develop practical, scalable and technology-enabled solutions that could improve India’s changing banking ecosystem rapidly. The participants received valuable feedback from the jury and domain experts that helped them to refine their ideas and to understand the real-world challenges in finance and technology.
Prof Rajat Moona, Director, IIT Gandhinagar, in his address at the Grand Finale, highlighted how India’s digital public infrastructure has revolutionized the financial ecosystem by allowing safe, accessible and affordable digital transactions. He noted that technologies such as Aadhaar and UPI have created significant opportunities for innovation in areas including authentication, data security, transaction security and reconciliation. “The fintech space has a huge scope in building digital trust and developing tools that can make financial services more efficient and accessible,” he said. He also encouraged the participants to continue experimenting, learning and developing solutions that can contribute to the evolving fintech ecosystem.
Speaking on the Grand Finale, Shri Sanjay V. Mudaliar, Executive Director, Bank of Baroda, stressed upon the need to move from ideas to solutions that can solve real-world banking challenges. He emphasised the need to bring industry and academia together to refine student innovations into practical and commercially viable solutions. “The real challenge is not just to develop a solution, but to see whether it can be implemented in a real-life scenario,” he said. He further noted that the Hackathon provides students with an opportunity to understand the actual challenges and expectations of the banking industry, while gaining exposure that can help prepare them for the commercial world.
Shri Saurabh Shukla, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Bank of Baroda, said that Hackathons serve as a powerful platform for connecting academia and industry, with the former bringing fresh thinking, research and innovation, and the latter offering practical context, scale and an understanding of real-world challenges. “This collaboration enables young innovators to transform ideas into solutions that can create meaningful impact,” he said. He further highlighted that such initiatives help strengthen the innovation ecosystem and prepare talent to address emerging challenges in a rapidly evolving digital world.
Amit Prashant, Dean, External Relations, IIT Gandhinagar and Shri Rajeev Ranjan Prasad, Senior Advisor, Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) also addressed the event and emphasised on the importance of the Hackathon in promoting innovation and involving young talent to solve emerging challenges in the banking and financial technology sector.
‘Team Admas 2.0’ from Indian Institute of Technology Bhilai stood first after a rigorous evaluation. ‘Team CrunchHack’ from Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology (SVNIT) secured the second position, followed by Team Sach Ka Kavach from Rajasthan Technical University, Kota, in third position. Team Never Settle from Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar secured the fourth position.
The jury comprised Prof Manisha Padala, Faculty, IIT Gandhinagar; Mr Vikram Kishnani, Digital Delivery Head, HCLTech; Mr Anand Pandey, Chief Operating Officer, IIT Gandhinagar Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (IIEC); Mr Saurabh Shukla, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Bank of Baroda; and Mr Arun Kumar, Deputy General Manager – Information Technology (DGM–IT), Bank of Baroda.
The jury recognized the most innovative and impactful solutions after a rigorous evaluation process based on innovation, technical excellence, feasibility, scalability and potential for implementation. The event culminated with the announcement of winners, valedictory ceremony and prize distribution and celebrated some of the best ideas that have the potential to contribute to the future of digital banking in India.
The 17 finalist teams represented leading technical and academic institutions from across the country, including IIT Gandhinagar, NIT Patna, Rajasthan Technical University, IIIT Vadodara, SVNIT, MANIT Bhopal, IIT Guwahati, IIT Bhilai, VGEC, Thapar University, GTU-SET, Rashtriya Raksha University, Charusat and LDCE/JEC. The participating teams comprised students working collaboratively on technology-driven solutions to address diverse challenges in the banking and financial sector.
The Grand Finale of the PSB Hackathon was not only a competition but also a showcase of the commitment of IIT Gandhinagar in promoting innovation, entrepreneurship and industry-academia collaboration by offering students an opportunity to solve national challenges through technology. The event reiterated the Institute’s vision of developing future-ready innovators who will design solutions that will have a real impact on society and industry.