IIT Gandhinagar Hosts the Valedictory Ceremony of ‘Hack The Future 2025’

The Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) successfully hosted the valedictory and award distribution ceremony of the prestigious ‘Hack The Future 2025’ on March 23, 2025. Organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the 36-hour hackathon brought together 17 final teams from over 1000 applicants across India. The teams engaged in developing innovative solutions based on three key problem statements: a) Development of an AI/ML-based predictive model for the estimation of Monthly Per Capita Expenditure (MPCE), b) Development of a Semantic Search system from text to the National Industrial Classification (NIC) Code, and c) AI-based Legacy Data Extraction and Processing Tool.

Each team was mentored by experts from IITGN and MoSPI, including esteemed scholars and industry professionals.

Dr Saurabh Garg, IAS, Secretary, MoSPI, addressed the participants, highlighting the significance of working with real data. He emphasised the importance of transforming data into valuable information and shared his optimism for the nation’s future, stating, “You are at an age that is perfect for being in India, especially as we look toward the next 25 years of building a viksit bharat.”

Prof Rajat Moona, Director, IITGN, congratulated the participants for their efforts and encouraged them to continue their journey of innovation. He stated, “The spark ignited here should not be extinguished. This is just the beginning of many innovations that you are capable of creating.”

P R Meshram, Director General, MoSPI, shared the potential plans for the projects, stating, “We will evaluate these projects further, and those that show promise will be integrated into our operational framework. We are committed to fostering collaborations and strengthening partnerships with academia, institutions, and industry experts. The creativity, dedication, and collaboration demonstrated throughout this event are truly impressive.”

Mr Vijay Kumar Ivaturi, Co-Founder and CTO of Crayon Data, and one of the jury members, praised the participating teams for their remarkable efforts. He noted, “It was incredibly difficult to finalise the winners because the projects were so impressive. ‘Hack The Future 2025’ stands out as one of the few hackathons that allowed participants to work with real data, which made it a unique and invaluable experience.”

Team 404, consisting of Anirudh Chauhan, Ayush Sharma, Japsahaj Kaur, Rishav Kumar, and Vijeta from Plaksha University, secured the first prize for their solution to the problem statement, “Development of an AI/ML-based predictive model for the estimation of Monthly Per Capita Expenditure (MPCE).” The second and third prizes were awarded to Team Nexus from IIT Jammu and Team Insight Seekers from NMIMS, Mumbai, respectively.

For the problem statement “Development of Semantic Search from text to National Industrial Classification Code,” the first prize was claimed by Team KAPTURE, which included Akash Gupta, Devansh Awasthi, Kaustav Banerjee, Kunal Kumar Gupta, and Pranjal Srivastava from Rajiv Gandhi Petroleum University, Raibareli. Team WeForce from VIT, Vellore, and Team HareNTortoise from IIIT Vadodara received the second and third prizes, respectively.

In the category of “AI-based Legacy Data Extraction and Processing Tool,” the first prize was awarded to Team The Waffle, comprising Arbaaz Shafiq, Arnav Rustagi, Chaitanya Modi, Jiya Agrawal, and Pranjal Rastogi from Plaksha University. Team Webstart from NIT Goa and Team Legacy Hackers from IIT Kharagpur won the second and third prizes, respectively.