AI for Bharat: India's Comprehensive AI Developer Program

In an era where innovation is increasingly shaped by intelligence, AI for Bharat empowers developers across India to transform theoretical AI knowledge into practical, deployable skills through hands-on experience with enterprise-grade tools.

This comprehensive two-phase program combines structured learning with practical application, enabling developers to build portfolio-ready projects and compete for national recognition.

Learn, build and launch

AI for Bharat is designed to help developers move from AI concepts to building functional, deployable solutions. Through hands-on workshops, expert mentorship, and a national competition, participants gain practical experience with enterprise-grade AI tools while building solutions that matter for India.

Phase 1: The learning phase

The first stage of the program is designed to equip participants with both the foundational and advanced knowledge of core cloud skills and GenAI services that are essential for the hackathon. This phase features a mix of live and recorded sessions:

• Structured Workshops: Deep-dive sessions on fundamentals, best practices, and innovative AI use cases in India.
• Hands-on Labs: Led by industry experts and technical specialists, participants build functional applications while receiving real-time feedback and support.
• Weekly Challenges: Practice and apply new skills through structured challenges with rewards.
• Earn Your Certificate: To qualify for the official AI for Bharat certificate, participants must complete workshop labs and publish a technical blog on AWS Builder Center documenting their project and learnings

Phase 2: The building phase (hackathon)

With their foundational skills certified, participants advance to the national competition. This phase moves from theoretical to practical, where builders apply their expertise to solve impactful, real-world problems.

There are two tracks that participants can choose from:

• The student track: This track emphasizes innovative ideas, community-level solutions and early demonstrations of technical skills. 
• The professional/ startup track: This focuses on enterprise-grade applications, scalable models, market-ready solutions and solutions for critical societal problems.

Who can participate?

AI for Bharat welcomes developers at all career stages who are ready to advance their AI capabilities and contribute to India's growing AI ecosystem. Students currently enrolled in an undergraduate or postgraduate program, full-time or part-time working professionals, startups looking to build fresh GenAI-powered features and independent developers/ freelancers seeking to showcase their expertise, and build a portfolio, are all welcome to apply. 

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Timeline

• Registration: November 10, 2025
• Learning Phase (Hands-on workshops): From November 14, 2025 to Jan 11, 2026
• Problem Statement Reveal: Jan 13, 2026
• Problem Statement Explainer Session: Jan 16, 2026
• Idea Submission Phase: From Jan 13, 2026 to Jan 25, 2026
• Initial Shortlist Announcement: Feb 10, 2026
• Registrations Ends: Feb 1, 2026
• Prototype Development Phase: From Feb 10, 2026 to Feb 22, 2026
• Final Shortlist Announcement: Mar 10, 2026
• How To Pitch Session: Mar 12, 2026
• Virtual Pitching (Student Track): Mar 16, 2026
• Virtual Pitching (Professional Track): Mar 17, 2026
• Submit: Prototype, deck, roadmap

Teams participating in the program must each submit a clearly articulated proposed solution, demonstrating the idea’s technical validity. Participants also need to develop a functional prototype by using enterprise AI tools including Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Q, and Kiro supported by a GitHub repository link showcasing their code. 

Additionally, each team will also need to showcase a video pitch - no longer than three minutes - highlighting their prototype’s functionality, key features, and the overall impact. The video can be uploaded to a public video hosting platform. The final part of the submission includes a deck of 10-12 slides, in the prescribed template, which offers an overview of the problem and solution, core features and differentiators, market opportunities and viability (especially for the professional/startup track) and finally a roadmap and vision for scaling and refining the solution. 

Evaluation criteria 

• Technical Excellence (30%) : Using enterprise AI tools effectively and creatively: This will include the quality, scalability, robustness, and architecture design of the codebase.
• Innovation & Creativity (30%): The novelty of the approach and ingenuity demonstrated in solving the chosen problem statement.
• Impact & Relevance (25%): Real world impact: This will be calculated by the solutions alignment with the identified problem, and the scope for scalability and growth.
• Completeness & Presentation (15%): Documentation and submission in place: The final score applies to the clarity and professionalism of the video pitch, submission deck, and documentation, as well as the functionality and polish of the prototype.

Benefits and rewards

Winners of the AI for Bharat Hackathon will receive a range of benefits and rewards, including:

• Prize Pool: INR 40,00,000 in cash prizes for top teams across both Student and Professional categories.
• Certificate: Official AI for Bharat Certificate awarded upon successful completion of the Learning Phase projects.
• Expert Access: Direct Q&A support from seasoned technical experts during hands-on workshops.
• National Recognition: Top teams get the chance to pitch their solutions at the Grand Finale to a panel of industry leaders.
• Networking: Connect and collaborate with developers from across the country.

Ready to Begin?

Registration has already begun! Click here for AI for Bharat and start to create connections, spark ideas, and shape the future of intelligent applications in India.

Important Note: AI for Bharat is an independent developer program supported by AWS that utilizes AWS tools and services. This program is organized by Hack2skill in partnership with YourStory.