Conceptualized by ThinkStartup, the competition attracted more than 2,500 participants from across the country. The Grand Finale provided a national platform for innovators, researchers, faculty members and handloom experts to develop practical solutions to challenges involving loom modernization, design innovation, sustainability, market access and weaver livelihoods.
The shortlisted teams presented innovations aimed at improving productivity, preserving traditional craftsmanship and enhancing the global competitiveness of India’s handloom sector.
Development Commissioner (Handlooms) Dr. M. Beena, IAS, emphasized that India’s handloom heritage and modern technology can work together to strengthen the sector. “We must combine innovation with traditional craftsmanship to improve the lives of weavers,” Dr. Beena stated.
She highlighted the inherent sustainability and circularity of the handloom sector and stressed the importance of technological innovation in loom processes, design development and modern marketing strategies. She also spotlighted the Indian Handmade Portal, an e-commerce platform that enables weavers to sell globally without intermediaries.
The hackathon featured problem statements across four key themes aimed at modernizing and revitalizing India’s handloom industry.
VIZHI – AI Powered Trend Forecasting App, developed by Madeshwaraboobalan V and Srinidhi B from IIHT Salem, emerged as the winner in the Weaver Livelihoods & Financial Inclusion category. The platform uses artificial intelligence to forecast market trends, enabling weavers to anticipate demand patterns and make informed production decisions that directly affect income stability.
Sutradhar, created by Atharv Sanjeev Kumar and Gurkirat Singh from IIT Madras, won the Market Access & Digital Integration category. The solution bridges the gap between rural weavers and digital markets by enabling direct access to global buyers and eliminating supply chain intermediaries.
In the Sustainability & Environmental Impact category, Savinya, developed by Naveen Goyal, Mahak Goyal and Ritu Devi from Savinya Studio, secured the top position. The solution integrates sustainability throughout the handloom production cycle and creates circular economy models designed to reduce environmental waste.
The Innovation in Design & Operations category was won by the Weaver Mithra Back Support System, developed by Sriram Vaggu and Adigoppula vishal from KLB IIHT Hyderabad. The solution addresses occupational health challenges and enables weavers to work for longer and more productive hours.
The hackathon also reflected a broader effort to strengthen collaboration among academia, industry and government in advancing India’s handloom sector.
Dr. Deepti Gupta, Head of the Department of Textile and Fibre Engineering at IIT Delhi, announced the proposed Centre of Excellence for Handloom Technology at IIT Delhi, which is expected to be inaugurated next week in collaboration with the Ministry of Textiles. The centre will integrate technology with handloom production to improve standardization and productivity while preserving the uniqueness of handcrafted textiles.
Sanjeeva Shivesh, Co-founder of ThinkStartup and Program Director of the Handloom Hackathon 2026 Organising Committee, congratulated the finalist teams and encouraged them to continue developing their innovations.
“This hackathon is a milestone in creating meaningful social and economic impact for India’s weavers. The winning solutions exemplify how innovation can preserve heritage while driving progress. This spirit of empowering young innovators also aligns with ThinkStartup’s Youth Ideathon, which encourages school and college students to become creators and develop ideas that can solve real-world challenges and contribute to India’s progress,” Shivesh said.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Vice Chancellor, World University of Design, said, “Handloom is often viewed through the lens of heritage. The Handloom Hackathon reminded us that it is equally a source of innovation. As a jury member, I was encouraged to see young minds applying design thinking, emerging technologies and entrepreneurial imagination to one of India’s most enduring creative ecosystems. The future of handloom will not be secured by preserving the past alone, but by enabling the next generation to reinterpret it for contemporary markets and lifestyles. This initiative by the Ministry of Textiles is an important step in that direction.”
CV Raghu, President & Founder, General Counsel’s Association of India, said, “As India’s handloom sector modernizes, the innovations coming out of platforms like this hackathon will increasingly touch questions of design ownership, geographical indication and intellectual property. Building that legal and governance backbone alongside the technology is what will let weavers and young innovators capture the full value of what they create. It was heartening to see solutions that think about the weaver’s livelihood not just as a design problem, but as a rights and market-access problem too.”
Sanchit Govil, Co-founder, Lal10, said, “We’ve spent years building the bridge between rural artisans and digital markets, so it was exciting to see a new generation of innovators tackle that same problem from fresh angles. Sutradhar and the other market-access solutions at this hackathon are exactly the kind of thinking the sector needs, technology that removes intermediaries and puts more of the value directly in weavers’ hands. Initiatives like this hackathon are critical to accelerating that shift.”
Vanita Vasudeva, Startup Portfolio Management, FITT, IIT Delhi, said, “What stood out at this hackathon was how quickly finalist teams moved from problem statements to workable prototypes. That’s exactly the kind of founder mindset we look to nurture through incubation- taking a strong idea and giving it the structure, mentorship and market validation it needs to survive beyond the competition. With the right incubation support, several of these handloom-tech solutions have a genuine shot at becoming durable ventures.”
The Ministry of Textiles has committed to providing one-year incubation support for investor-ready participants, creating a pathway for winning and promising solutions toward real-world implementation. The initiative aims to create a modern, innovation-led image for brand Handloom while establishing a visible route from ideation to market viability and ensuring that breakthrough innovations translate into tangible benefits for India’s weaver communities.
The successful conclusion of Handloom Hackathon 2026 marks another step in the Ministry’s efforts to strengthen academia-industry collaboration and build a technology-enabled, sustainable and globally competitive handloom ecosystem supporting the long-term growth and prosperity of India’s weaver
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