Nearly 3,000 participants across India competed in a nation-wide hackathon focusing on AI-driven banking fraud detection, highlighting public sector push for enhanced cybersecurity measures.
Bank of India and the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad have concluded a national hackathon aimed at tackling banking fraud with artificial intelligence, drawing nearly 3,000 registrations from students and individual participants across the country. The Cybersecurity, Fraud and Artificial Intelligence Hackathon 2026 was designed to link public sector lenders, universities and young technologists in the search for practical defences against digital banking threats.
The event was backed by the Department of Financial Services in the Ministry of Finance and the Indian Banks’ Association. Organisers set two technical challenges: one called for generative AI tools that could help reverse engineer fraudulent mobile apps and malware, while the other sought machine-learning systems able to spot suspicious transactions and mule accounts using transaction records, fraud alerts and government cyber-fraud reports.
According to reporting from The Times of India, the competition began with 2,936 registrations, from which 72 entries representing 232 participants were shortlisted for prototype presentations. After the first round, 18 finalists moved forward, with nine solutions in each problem category. The final evaluation considered innovation, technical soundness, explainability, scalability, user experience and the quality of the prototype.
Six teams ultimately won top prizes. In the malware and fraudulent app track, Team Vijaya from IIIT Bangalore took first place, followed by Team Fi from Chandigarh University and LogicFoundry from NIT Goa. In the suspicious-transactions category, IIIT Delhi’s weAreWinners finished first, with Team Vijaya again placing second and PES University’s LUNA LUPA taking third, according to The Times of India. The prize pool totalled Rs 20 lakh, with awards of Rs 5 lakh, Rs 3 lakh and Rs 2 lakh for the top three entries in each category.
The closing ceremony was attended by Bank of India managing director and chief executive Rajneesh Karnatak and IIT Hyderabad director Prof B S Murty, alongside representatives from Bank of India, IIT Hyderabad, CDAC and IDRBT. The hackathon reflects a wider push by public sector banks to use academic partnerships and AI research to improve fraud detection and strengthen trust in digital payments.
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