How 1,800 Non-Engineering Students Built 1,500 AI Apps in 90 Minutes

For decades, building technology in India largely meant one thing — engineering. Coding skills were seen as the gateway to innovation. If you weren’t from a technical background, you were expected to consume technology, not create it.

But at Bharat Mandapam during the India AI Impact Summit 2026, that idea was quietly — and powerfully — dismantled.

In just 90 minutes, 1,800 college students from Arts, Science and Commerce streams built 1,500 working digital app prototypes. Most had never written a line of code before.

This was the Tata Bharat YUVAi Hackathon — and it may mark a defining shift in how India thinks about innovation.

From Consumers to Creators — In Real Time

The atmosphere inside the venue was electric. Students from non-engineering backgrounds sat with laptops open, not to attend a lecture or watch a demo — but to build.

Guided by AI platforms operating in Indian languages, they moved step by step through the innovation process:

• Identify a real-world problem

• Design a solution

• Build a functional digital prototype

All within 90 minutes.

Healthcare gaps. Agricultural inefficiencies. Education access challenges. Civic service bottlenecks. The ideas came from lived realities — from communities these students knew personally.

And with the help of intuitive AI tools, those ideas became working app prototypes.

This wasn’t a coding competition. It was a demonstration of how artificial intelligence can democratise technology creation — making it accessible to anyone with a problem-solving mindset, regardless of academic stream.

A First-of-Its-Kind Hackathon at National Scale

Hosted as part of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, the Tata Bharat YUVAi Hackathon is being described as the country’s largest single-session learning initiative of its kind.

The event was graced by Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Railways, Information and Broadcasting, and Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, as Chief Guest. Also present was K. Krithivasan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

The scale alone was significant — but what truly stood out was who was participating.

More than 62 percent of undergraduate students in India are enrolled in Arts, Science and Commerce disciplines. Yet most large-scale innovation initiatives traditionally target engineering campuses.

The Tata Bharat YUVAi Hackathon flipped that script.

A Vision Bigger Than One Event

Speaking at the event, K. Krithivasan underlined the broader ambition behind the initiative:

“India’s digital future depends on unlocking talent beyond engineering. The Tata YUVAi Hackathon, which witnessed 1,800 students from non-engineering backgrounds come together to build digital app prototypes, marks a major step toward that vision. It reflects the Tata Group’s commitment to digital inclusion, where opportunity is not defined by background, stream, or language. This is the country’s largest single-session learning initiative of its kind and the beginning of a national movement to reach one million students, empowering them with AI tools to turn ideas into real-world solutions.”

The messaging was clear: India’s digital future cannot be built by engineers alone.

The hackathon is not a standalone showcase event. It forms part of a broader national vision — to equip India’s youth with future-ready digital skills and to lower the technical barriers that often prevent capable students from experimenting with technology.

AI, in this case, becomes the equaliser.

A Six-Week Nationwide Build-Up

The flagship session at Bharat Mandapam was the culmination of a six-week nationwide outreach campaign across 22 colleges in 10 states.

The footprint was expansive — spanning Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, among others.

The numbers tell a compelling story:

• 10,000+ students participated in satellite hackathons

• Completion rates ranged between 88% and 93%

• Many participants were building a digital product for the first time

• Every participant completed the full innovation journey

• Each developed a functional prototype

In a country where digital skill access is uneven and technical education is often specialised, those completion rates stand out.

It signals not just interest — but capability waiting to be unlocked.

Why This Moment Matters

India is often described as a young nation. But youth alone does not guarantee innovation. Access does.

By enabling students from non-engineering streams to build digital solutions in Indian languages, the Tata Bharat YUVAi Hackathon addressed two structural barriers at once:

1. Technical complexity

2. Language accessibility

The result was a live demonstration that AI can transform learners into creators — and do so at scale.

If even a fraction of the 62 percent of undergraduates outside engineering are empowered with AI tools, India’s innovation base expands dramatically. The pool of problem-solvers multiplies. Solutions begin emerging from communities that were previously underrepresented in tech creation.

This is not just about apps built in 90 minutes.

It is about redefining who gets to build.

The Bigger Signal for India’s Startup Ecosystem

For the Indian startup ecosystem, the implications are significant.

Innovation pipelines may no longer flow exclusively from engineering colleges and technical institutions. Arts students with deep understanding of social challenges, commerce students with business acumen, science students with domain expertise — all can now build prototypes without traditional coding barriers.

AI is shifting the starting line.

And initiatives like Tata Bharat YUVAi suggest that the next wave of founders, product builders, and digital creators may come from classrooms that were previously seen as outside the tech funnel.

A National Movement in the Making

Described as the beginning of a movement aimed at reaching one million students, the hackathon signals a long-term commitment to digital inclusion.

It reinforces a powerful idea: opportunity should not be defined by academic stream, background, or language.

At Bharat Mandapam, in just 90 minutes, 1,800 students proved that when tools become accessible, innovation follows.

And perhaps more importantly, they showed that India’s digital future is not limited to those who can code — but open to those who can imagine.