Smart India Hackathon 2025 (SIH) — Grand Finale Edition

Registering for Smart India Hackathon 2025 involves 6 stages: team formation → portal registration → problem statement selection → idea submission → internal hackathon → national shortlisting. This guide walks through each stage in detail.

👥 Stage 1 — Team Formation (Before Registration)

Team Composition Rules

• Exactly 6 students per team (not less, not more)
• All from same institute
• All full-time students (BTech/BE/BSc/BCom/BA/MTech/MSc/PhD)
• 1-2 faculty mentors from same institute
• Recommended: At least 2 female members (gender diversity bonus)
• Recommended: Mix of skills — frontend, backend, ML, design, hardware (if hardware track)

Ideal Team Composition (Software Track)

• 1 — Team Leader / Full-stack developer
• 1 — Backend developer
• 1 — Frontend developer
• 1 — UI/UX designer
• 1 — ML / AI specialist
• 1 — DevOps / Cloud / Tester

📝 Stage 2 — Portal Registration (1-30 September 2025)

Step-by-Step

1. Visit sih.gov.in/registration.
2. Team leader creates an account (mobile + email + Aadhaar).
3. Verify OTP on mobile + email.
4. Click 'Create New Team'.
5. Fill team details: Team name, college name, college code (AICTE), branch, year.
6. Invite 5 more members via their email.
7. Each member receives email, registers individually, accepts team invite.
8. Add 1-2 faculty mentors (name, designation, email, employee ID).
9. Upload Bonafide Certificate (signed by HOD/Principal) — PDF, max 2 MB.
10. Submit registration.

Important: All 6 members MUST complete their individual registration before the team registration is considered complete.

🎯 Stage 3 — Problem Statement Selection (1-7 October 2025)

Process

1. Login to portal → click 'Problem Statements'.
2. Browse 600+ problem statements from 50+ ministries/PSUs.
3. Filter by: Theme (Agriculture, MedTech, Clean Tech, etc.), Organisation, Difficulty.
4. Each team can select up to 3 preferences (in priority order).
5. Read the problem statement carefully — check eligibility, expected tech stack, target users.
6. Submit preferences before 7 October 2025.

Tips for Selection

• Pick problems aligned with your team's tech strengths
• Read all attached PDFs (some have detailed requirements)
• Choose problems where your team has unique insight (e.g., if from rural background, pick Agriculture problem)
• Avoid problems with very generic statements — too many teams compete
• Have backup preferences ready

💡 Stage 4 — Idea Submission (8-15 October 2025)

Once your team is allotted a problem statement, you submit a 10-page idea document.

Required Sections

1. Problem Understanding (1 page): Show you understand the problem in depth
2. Literature Review (1 page): Existing solutions and their gaps
3. Proposed Solution (2 pages): Your approach, key innovation
4. Architecture Diagram (1 page): System architecture
5. Tech Stack (1 page): Languages, frameworks, libraries, cloud services
6. Implementation Plan (2 pages): Milestones for 36-hour hackathon
7. Team Capabilities (1 page): Each member's role + relevant experience
8. Future Scope (1 page): Post-hackathon roadmap

Submission format: PDF, max 10 pages, max 5 MB. Upload via portal.

🏫 Stage 5 — Internal Hackathon (October-November 2025)

What Happens

Each college is supposed to conduct an internal hackathon to shortlist teams. Procedure:

1. College's SIH SPOC (Single Point of Contact) coordinates.
2. Top teams from the college present ideas to internal panel.
3. Internal panel recommends top 1-3 teams per problem statement.
4. Recommended teams advance to national shortlisting.

If your college doesn't conduct internal hackathon: You can still submit idea directly, but your chances of national shortlisting reduce significantly.

🏆 Stage 6 — National Shortlisting (15 November 2025)

Expert panel from each ministry/PSU reviews all idea submissions for their problem statements. Top 2-3 teams per problem statement get shortlisted for Grand Finale.

Selection Criteria for Shortlisting

• Originality of solution (25%)
• Technical depth (25%)
• Feasibility in 36 hours (20%)
• Team composition + capabilities (15%)
• Quality of idea document (15%)

✅ Checklist Before Submitting

• All 6 members + 1-2 mentors registered
• Bonafide Certificate uploaded (all members, signed by HOD/Principal)
• Team preferences for problem statements submitted
• Idea document uploaded in PDF format (max 10 pages, max 5 MB)
• Internal hackathon participation confirmed
• GitHub repo initialised (even if empty, shows intent)
• Discord / Slack channel for team created

⚠️ Common Mistakes

• Team has < 6 members at registration deadline → disqualification
• Bonafide certificate missing or unsigned → registration rejected
• Wrong problem statement preferences → team doesn't get desired problem
• Idea document exceeds 10 pages → not considered
• No internal hackathon → college may not get any shortlisted team
• Team members from different institutes → not allowed (use SIH Innovation edition instead)
• Forgot to upload Aadhaar cards → travel booking delays

📞 Help & Support

• SIH Helpdesk: 1800-XXX-XXXX (9 AM – 6 PM, Mon-Fri)
• Email: helpdesk@sih.gov.in
• SIH Discord Server: invite link on portal
• Your college's SIH SPOC (find via your HOD)