PSB Hackathon Series 2026 in Collaboration with IIT Kharagpur
Join PSB Hackathon Series 2026 exclusively for all students from any recognized institutes/universities. Win prizes worth ₹11 Lakhs!
Open to All Students
Team Size: 2-4 Members
Event Timeline: April 2026 – July 2026
Application Deadline: 19th April, 2026
1st Prize
₹5 Lakhs
The PSB Hackathon is a national-level initiative led by the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, together with the Indian Bank Association (IBA). Its mission is to strengthen cybersecurity and financial resilience across public sector banks while giving students from institutes and universities nationwide the opportunity to showcase innovation and collaborative problem-solving.
UCO Bank is proud to host the prestigious PSB Hackathon 2026, in collaboration with IIT Kharagpur. Selected teams will tackle critical problem statements, and the journey will culminate in July 2026 with the presentation of winning prototypes—demonstrating their potential for real-world implementation.
Gain recognition, rewards, and skills while solving real-world banking challenges.
Exciting Prizes
Win rewards worth up to ₹11 Lakhs and showcase your innovation on a national stage.
Recognition & Certificates
Winners will be honored at the closing ceremony with national-level recognition. All participants receive Certificates of Excellence or Consolation.
Skill Development
Work on industry-defined problem statements that matter. Solve for digital banking, fraud detection, and customer experience.
Participants will work on banking problems with clear expected outcomes.
Problem 1: AI driven Credit for borrower with no credit history
Many individual persons and MSMEs in India do not have credit history to obtain loans from banks in the traditional way. They are deprived of loans despite genuine need, while banks are unable to provide loans due to lack of credit history and risk of NPAs.
Expected Outcome: Develop an AI‑powered alternate credit scoring system that leverages diverse data sources such as phone bill payment consistency, e‑commerce purchase behavior, geolocation stability, questionnaire‑based risk assessment, merchant ratings, and bank account cash flow patterns. The prototype should include psychometric & behavioral risk models, consent‑based data flow mechanisms, and privacy & encryption compliance. This solution should enable underserved communities to access loans digitally without traditional credit history, while ensuring responsible lending practices.
Problem 2: Audio Forensics for Voice Security
These days Generative AI tools can now clone a customer’s voice by capturing just few seconds of audio. Fraudsters use this to bypass "Voice Biometric" passwords or call center agents into transferring funds. Current defenses rely on metadata (phone numbers), which is easily spoofed.These days Generative AI tools can now clone a customer’s voice by capturing just few seconds of audio. Fraudsters use this to bypass "Voice Biometric" passwords or call center agents into transferring funds. Current defenses rely on metadata (phone numbers), which is easily spoofed.
Expected Outcome: A real-time Audio Forensics Module that analyzes the spectrogram (visual representation of audio) of a live call. It must detect "synthetic artifacts"—micro-imperfections in pitch and frequency that human ears miss but machines can spot—and flag the call as "High Risk" within the first 10 seconds.
Problem 3: Automated Discovery of Misconfigurations in Open Source Dependencies
Modern banking applications rely on hundreds of open‑source libraries, often left unpatched or misconfigured, creating hidden security risks. Existing SCA tools mainly detect known CVEs but fail to identify insecure defaults like hardcoded passwords or weak cipher suites. Developers miss vulnerabilities during fast releases, expanding the attack surface. The challenge is to build a static analysis tool that scans code and dependencies to detect both CVEs and insecure configurations. It must integrate into CI/CD pipelines, provide clear reports, and suggest automated fixes to enforce secure‑by‑design practices.
Expected Outcome: The solution should automatically detect vulnerable dependencies and insecure default configurations across code and configuration files, while providing clear, actionable fix suggestions or even auto-remediation options for developers. It must integrate seamlessly into the CI/CD pipeline, ensuring secure-by-design development practices without impacting delivery speed.
Track important dates and tasks throughout the hackathon journey.
| Event | Timeline |
|---|---|
| Registration of Teams | 5st April - 20th April 2026 |
| Idea Submission by Registered Teams | 20th April – 24th April 2026 |
| Shortlisting of Teams ( For Virtual Presentation) | 25th April – 30th April 2026 |
| Virtual Presentation of Shortlisted Teams | Second Week of May |
| Final Shortlisted Teams Announcement | Last Week of June |
| Final Prototype Presentation | First Week of July |
*Timeline may be subject to change.
Ready to build something amazing?
Register your team now and be part of PSB Hackathon journey.