Upcoming Hackathons in India: The Recurring Calendar Worth Bookmarking

If you searched "upcoming hackathons," you're probably trying to find something specific to register for this week or next, not a history lesson on what a hackathon is. The honest problem with that search: any list of "upcoming hackathons" written today is partly wrong by the time you read it. Registrations close, dates shift, and new ones get announced constantly on Devfolio and Unstop. So instead of a list that expires, here's what actually holds up: the recurring annual calendar of India's biggest hackathons, where each one sits in the year, and exactly where to check for what's open the day you're reading this.

Why a static "top 10 upcoming hackathons" list doesn't work

Most pages with this title are stale within a month. A hackathon with open registration in June is closed by August. One announced for "Q3 2026" gets pushed to Q4 without much notice. Even the platforms themselves reflect this: Devfolio and Unstop refresh their listings continuously because that's the only way to stay accurate. A blog post gets published once and sits there. So if you came here hoping for a dated list of what's open today, go straight to Devfolio's upcoming hackathons page or Unstop's hackathons section and filter by "open." What a page like this one can actually give you, reliably, is the shape of the year: which major hackathons come back annually, roughly when, and what to expect from each.

The recurring calendar for India's biggest hackathons

These aren't guesses. They're patterns pulled from how each hackathon has actually run in recent cycles, including 2026.

• Smart India Hackathon (SIH), run by AICTE and the Ministry of Education's Innovation Cell. SPOC and team registration opens in August, internal college-level hackathons run through September, screening results land in October, the finalist list comes out in November, and the 36-hour grand finale happens in December. For the 2026 cycle, SIH launched August 21, 2026, with internal hackathons in September 2026 and the grand finale set for December 2026. Registration always goes through your college's SPOC on sih.gov.in, never as an individual.
• Infosys HackWithInfy runs earliest in the year. The 2026 cycle opened registration in February, with online qualifier rounds in March and a face-to-face contest in April. If you're a final-year student, this is a February hackathon to have on your radar well before the academic year even feels busy.
• Flipkart GRiD typically opens registration in June. GRiD 8.0's 2026 window ran June 19 to July 7, with later rounds through the following months. By the time September rolls around, that season's registration has already closed and the competition is deep into its later rounds.
• HackOn with Amazon sits in the April-to-July window. Season 6's 2026 cycle had registration closing in late May, the 48-hour hackathon in mid-June, and the grand finale in July.
• ETHIndia, the largest ETHGlobal hackathon in South Asia, is anchored in Bangalore and has landed anywhere from September through December depending on the year, run through Devfolio. Confirm the current year's exact dates on Devfolio directly, since ETHGlobal announces them separately from the corporate hackathons above and the window moves more than the others.

The pattern that matters: if you're reading this in the second half of the year, most of the big corporate hackathons for that admission cycle (HackWithInfy, Flipkart GRiD, Amazon HackOn) have already opened and closed. SIH is the exception, since its heaviest activity, screening and the grand finale, happens from October through December. That makes September through December the SIH-and-Web3-hackathon stretch of the year, while February through July is corporate-hackathon season.

What to actually do with this, today

1. Check your calendar position first. If it's roughly August to December, your best live option among the majors is SIH (if your college participates) or a Web3 hackathon through Devfolio. If it's February to July, watch for HackWithInfy, Flipkart GRiD, and Amazon HackOn announcements specifically.
2. Go straight to the live listings for anything outside the majors. Devfolio's upcoming page and Unstop's hackathons listing both update daily. Smaller college hackathons, online-only challenges, and niche-domain events (AI, Web3, fintech) show up here well before they show up anywhere else.
3. Filter for what you actually want. If a pre-placement interview matters more to you than prize money, sort by hackathons run directly by companies you'd want to work at, not by prize pool size. If you want the cash, corporate hackathons like Flipkart GRiD and HackWithInfy carry the larger pools; if you want a portfolio project and a shot at a Web3 role, ETHIndia and other Devfolio-listed events carry more weight there.
4. Read the team and eligibility rules before you get attached to an idea. SIH locks you into exactly 6 students from one institution with at least 1 female member mandatory. Most Devfolio and Unstop-listed hackathons run smaller teams, commonly 1 to 4, but every event sets its own rule, so check before you recruit a team that doesn't fit the format.

FAQ

Where can I find hackathons that are open for registration right now?

Devfolio's upcoming-hackathons page and Unstop's hackathons listing are the two that stay current day to day, since organizers list directly on them. HackerEarth is worth a check too, mostly for corporate coding challenges. A blog post like this one is good for the yearly pattern, not for today's exact open registrations, since those change week to week.

When does Smart India Hackathon happen every year?

SIH runs on roughly the same annual shape: SPOC and team registration in August, internal college-level hackathons in September, screening results in October, the finalist list in November, and the 36-hour grand finale in December. SIH 2026 followed this pattern, with the grand finale scheduled for December 2026.

Are corporate hackathons like Flipkart GRiD or HackWithInfy still open once the academic year starts?

Usually not by September. Flipkart GRiD typically opens registration around June and moves into later rounds by July or August. HackWithInfy runs earlier, opening around February with rounds through March and April. Amazon HackOn's registration and finale usually wrap by July. If you're checking in the second half of the year, most corporate hackathons for that admission cycle have already closed, and the next season won't open until months later.

Is it worth entering a hackathon with no listed prize money?

Often yes, if it has a pre-placement interview track or is run by a company you want to work at. The prize pool is usually the smallest part of what a strong hackathon performance gets you. A no-prize hackathon from a company still hiring is frequently worth more than a cash-prize one with no hiring pipeline attached.