If you searched "Flipkart hackathon 2026," you probably mean one of three different things, and they're easy to mix up because Flipkart runs all three in the same year with overlapping timelines. There's GRiD, the flagship engineering challenge for students. There's Gridlock, a separate AI hackathon built around Bengaluru's traffic problem. And there's Girls Wanna Code (what used to be called Runway), a women-only early career program. Here's what each one actually is, where it stands as of late September 2026, and which one you probably want.
Flipkart GRiD 8.0: the flagship engineering challenge
This is the one most people mean by "Flipkart hackathon." GRiD is Flipkart's annual, India-wide engineering competition aimed at undergrad and postgrad students, and it's the closest thing the company runs to a talent pipeline: strong performers get pulled toward internships and, eventually, full-time SDE offers.
For the 2026 edition, registration opened on 19 June and was due to close 7 July, though Flipkart pushed the deadline out to 12 July to let more students in. Eligibility covers UG and PG students from the 2027 to 2030 graduating batches, with some doctoral and integrated-degree programs stretching eligibility out to 2031. It's free to enter, and it's open across B.E., B.Tech, and M.Tech programs.
The bigger change in this edition is the track structure. Where past GRiD editions leaned almost entirely on software development and system design questions, GRiD 8.0 splits into three parallel tracks:
- Software Development: core CS fundamentals, low-level and high-level design, concurrency, database optimization, scalable backend architecture.
- AI Engineering
- Data Science
You can apply to one, two, or all three. Flipkart is explicitly framing this shift as evolving GRiD from a coding contest into what it calls a "foundational AI accelerator," reflecting that most of what it now hires engineers to build touches AI or ML somewhere in the stack.
The format runs across four rounds, ending with a national finals round where the top 48 teams (16 per track) travel to Flipkart's Bengaluru HQ for a live, in-person hackathon. Strong performers can walk away with an internship carrying around a ₹1 lakh/month stipend, and a pre-placement offer track that, in past cycles, has led to full-time SDE offers with CTC north of ₹32 LPA. Reported cash prize figures for the competition itself vary across listing sites (you'll see anywhere from ₹1.5 lakh to ₹2 lakh quoted), so treat any specific number you see on a third-party site with some caution and check Flipkart's own GRiD page for the current figure.
If you missed this window, there isn't an official date yet for GRiD 9.0, but prep content for a 2027 run is already showing up online, which is a reasonable signal Flipkart intends to keep the annual cadence going.
Gridlock Hackathon 2.0: not the same event
This one gets confused with GRiD constantly because the names sound alike, but it's a different, narrower thing. Gridlock is a joint hackathon between Flipkart and the Bengaluru Traffic Police, run on HackerEarth, and it's not limited to students, anyone can enter.
The premise: participants get real traffic data from the Bengaluru Traffic Police and build AI or ML tools to help with the city's congestion problem. The 2.0 edition ran its core registration and submission phase through late May and into early June 2026, and the numbers were large for a single-city problem statement, more than 33,000 participants submitted upward of 1,100 prototypes. The finale was held at Flipkart's Bengaluru HQ on 3 July 2026, with Traffic Police leadership on hand alongside Flipkart executives.
Three teams split a ₹5 lakh prize pool:
- Gridlock Oracle (1st, ₹2.25 lakh): predicts how a single traffic incident cascades into city-wide congestion using a Hawkes Process model, feeding a live dashboard the Traffic Police can use to reposition resources before things back up.
- PRAHAR (2nd, ₹1.75 lakh): forecasts junction-level risk and dispatch needs.
- ParkSight (3rd, ₹1 lakh): targets parking-induced bottlenecks specifically.
Flipkart also offered the winning teams office space and technical mentoring on top of the prize money. If you're searching for Gridlock hoping to still register, that window has closed, this cycle is done. Watch for a Gridlock 3.0 announcement if you want the next shot at it.
Girls Wanna Code 7.0 (formerly Flipkart Runway)
If "Flipkart hackathon 2026" brought you here because you were actually trying to find Flipkart Runway, the program got renamed. For 2026, Flipkart folded Runway into a program now called Girls Wanna Code 7.0, open to women engineering students across streams, degrees, and specializations, nationwide.
Registration ran from 21 December 2025 to 15 January 2026, so that window is also closed as of this writing. Selected candidates get an internship opportunity for 2026 and a shot at a pre-placement interview for a full role at Flipkart. If you're a woman engineering student planning ahead, this is the program to track for its next cycle rather than searching for "Runway," which isn't the current branding anymore.
Which one should you actually track
- Want the flagship student challenge with the clearest path to an SDE, AI, or data science role at Flipkart? That's GRiD. Watch for GRiD 9.0.
- Want an open (non-student-restricted) AI/ML challenge with a real-world civic problem and Flipkart's backing? That's Gridlock. Watch for 3.0.
- A woman engineering student looking for Flipkart's early-career track? That's Girls Wanna Code, not Runway.
All three follow a similar pattern year over year: a registration window of two to four weeks, multiple filtering rounds, and a finale or offer stage months later. If you missed this year's window for any of them, the most useful thing to do now is set a reminder for roughly a year out and check Flipkart's own careers site directly closer to that date, since third-party listing sites are often slow to update once a season's registration closes.
FAQ
- Is Flipkart GRiD 8.0 registration still open?
- No. Registration opened on 19 June 2026 and closed 7 July 2026, with a short extension to 12 July. If you're reading this after that window, the current cohort has moved into its later rounds, and the top 48 teams (16 per track) advance to a national finals hackathon at Flipkart HQ in Bengaluru. Watch for GRiD 9.0, which prep guides are already circulating for ahead of an expected 2027 run, though Flipkart hasn't announced an official date.
- What exactly is the Flipkart Gridlock Hackathon?
- It's a separate, narrower hackathon Flipkart runs with the Bengaluru Traffic Police, hosted on HackerEarth, asking participants to build AI or ML solutions to the city's traffic problems using real Traffic Police data. Unlike GRiD, it's open to everyone, not just students. Gridlock Hackathon 2.0 ran its main phase through late May and early June 2026, drew more than 33,000 participants and 1,100+ prototypes, and closed with a finale at Flipkart HQ on 3 July 2026, where three teams split a ₹5 lakh prize pool.
- Is Flipkart Runway the same thing as Girls Wanna Code?
- They're connected but not identical. Runway was Flipkart's early-career program for women engineers for several seasons. For the 2026 cycle, Flipkart folded it into a rebranded program called Girls Wanna Code 7.0, which ran registrations from 21 December 2025 to 15 January 2026. If you're searching for "Flipkart Runway 2026" specifically, Girls Wanna Code 7.0 is what you're actually looking for.
- How is GRiD 8.0 different from earlier GRiD editions?
- Earlier editions were mostly a software development and systems design challenge. GRiD 8.0 splits into three parallel tracks, Software Development, AI Engineering, and Data Science, and Flipkart is now positioning it as what it calls a "foundational AI accelerator" rather than a pure coding contest. You can enter one, two, or all three tracks.