Hyderabad Students Win Smart India Hackathon 2025 At IIT Roorkee

Hyderabad: A six-member student team has brought national acclaim by winning the Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2025 Grand Finale, held at IIT Roorkee, securing a cash prize of ₹1.5 lakh. The five-day national-level hardware hackathon was organised by the Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell, Government of India, and took place from December 8 to 12 at the Tinkering Lab, IIT Roorkee.

The winning team, Caffeinated Coders, emerged victorious after an intense competition that unfolded over six rounds, including three mentoring and three evaluation stages. The jury assessed entries on innovation, feasibility and societal impact.

The students worked on Problem Statement SIH25267, proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, which called for the development of a low-cost, portable jute ribboning machine. Their solution focused on enhancing farm productivity while significantly reducing manual labour, earning high praise from the evaluators for its practicality and farmer-centric approach.

The team comprised Mohammed Abdur Rafey, Osman Ghani, Rehan Azeem, Zoha Iram, Yasser Ahmed and Shaima Naaz, and was mentored by Dr Mujeeb Hasan and Mohammed Waseemuddin.

The achievement was widely lauded by the institution’s management, faculty and staff, who congratulated the students and mentors for their outstanding performance and for delivering an innovation aligned with national agricultural priorities.