Paytm Build for India Hackathon — The Judgement Day
When we launched the Build for India Hackathon, we knew the results could effect real change. Our challenge to developers: find new ways to use our Paytm payments API to design new solutions that impact the lives of millions of Indians.
We were overwhelmed by the response: hundreds of makers, inventors and entrepreneurs from across India turned up with backpacks, ready to code throughout the night. We shared the staging links and sent out the SDK and Plugin kits. The work started.
The Indian developer community has continued to impress us with so much awesomeness packed in just 36 hours. Build for India contestants used Paytm’s power and flexibility to design new ways to collect and pay money at various scales. A big shout out to all participants, mentors and staff for helping us make such a big splash.
A big thank you to our judges (below) for taking time out to review all submissions.
At the end of the day, participants presented their products. Five minutes, that’s all they got.
Each of the judges rated the submissions based on innovation, business viability and efficiency. Dozens of teams showcased their products. Some really quirky team names.
Now for the juicy part — the Winners.
1st Place: SEVEN
Members: Vijay, Mahek, Akash, Pooja, Karthik, Aakash and Vivek.
This Mumbai-based group of ex-CitiBank and L&T employees and engineering students designed an NFC-based ring that connects with your smartphone. Just bump fists or shake hands, and you’ll be able to transfer money to their Paytm Wallet or split that restaurant bill. It’s a costly handshake!
2nd Place: Marvel
This team of a 24-year-old freelancer and 22-year-old 1st year DU graduate met two and a half years back at another hackathon and haven’t seen each other ever since.
Their offline payment solution stores the user’s access token the first time they log in with an active internet connection. Later, they can simply send an SMS to a pre-determined Paytm phone number. The Paytm server then connects to the startup’s server, confirms the payment details and both parties receive an SMS confirmation.
3rd Place: Codeminators
This group of 19 to 22-year-olds from Delhi Technological University designed an offline payment solution where one can pay using the Paytm Wallet even if both parties are completely off the grid, i.e. both have no cellular network and no internet connection. “We saw a slide that mentioned Paytm’s Online-to-Offline payments, but there was a question mark on Offline to Offline Payment solutions. We thought let’s fill that in”, Raghav smiles.
In this payment method, ultrasonic waves containing payments details are emitted from the customer’s phone. These can be detected by any phone in the vicinity, and if they have an active internet connection, the payment details can be sent to the Paytm server where the transaction takes place, and both parties receive a confirmation later.
We’re all looking forward to the next hackathon. Until then..
