News Broadcasting
Moneycontrol hosts its first ever hackathon – ‘Budget Hackabot Challenge’
MUMBAI: Moneycontrol, India’s business news, markets and financial content, successfully hosted its first ever hackathon – ‘Budget Hackabot Challenge’ in Mumbai on 16-17 December 2017. With the primary objective of bringing together the larger developer community to co-create useful solutions for consumers, the one-of-a-kind event specifically focused on simplifying financial queries as a run up to the upcoming Union Budget.
The hackathon achieved this in two ways, first of which was by encouraging participants to create a bot which could answer user queries. Secondly, the hackathon challenged participants to create a tool which enables users to learn about investing options and take decisions on personal finance.
The overwhelming participation at moneycontrol’s ‘Budget Hackabot Challenge’ brought in tremendous zeal from the sharpest technological minds across the country, contributing to the creation of a highly immersive environment. An eclectic mix of working professionals as well as students from renowned educational institutions in the country took part in the event. Going a step further in redefining how news and financial information is disseminated in the digital age, the hackathon identified unchartered areas of technology, thereby unlocking immense value for digital consumers. The winning team comprised working professionals from various firms, all of whom are graduates of IIT, Mumbai.
Moneycontrol, business head Gautam Shelar comments, “We at moneycontrol are always looking at ways to push the envelope of innovation in order to derive useful solutions for our readers. With an aim to explore new technological spheres and develop disruptive solutions using the intensive data bank provided by us, we are proud of the way the participants worked in collaboration to come up with practical solutions. We look forward to hosting more such relevant hackathons based on definite and real-world use cases in the future, thereby providing value to every cog of our stakeholder wheel.”
HDFC Life SVP E-commerce & Digital Marketing Analytics and Business Insights at Vishal Subharwal said, “The Hackathon provides a platform for talent to come up with innovative solutions to resolve genuine customer problems around goal based financial planning. Any financial plan typically includes elements of life insurance & health insurance as well as wealth creation at its core.”
Customer centricity is an important value for us at HDFC Life and we are hugely committed to digitization and automation of the life insurance value chain to help deliver this. This is reflected in our investments over the years in building simple & easy to use consumer facing technology & products be it term plans, health plans or ULIPs. As more customers start buying life insurance & health insurance online, HDFC Life’s association with Moneycontrol provides us another opportunity to analyse reception of technology led customer solutions.”
Network18 Digital chief product officer Avinash Mudaliar, “A significant focus of this event was to unlock the true potential of India’s young and astute developer community by encouraging them to create disruptive solutions based on real world problem statements. Over the course of two days, we discovered a new approach on how content, products and services can be seamlessly presented to our consumers by churning out useful solutions. moneycontrol will now work with the winning teams to put together a solution that can be deployed and showcased to their audiences for upcoming Union Budget.”
Team Findians, with an approach focused specifically on extracting context from queries put in by users, were adjudicated winners and bagged a prize money of INR 4 lakhs. Team Hackaneurs on the other hand focused closely on user interactions and the maximum value that could be created in the process, leading to them being adjudged runners up with a prize money of INR 2 lakhs.
As the winning team will closely be working with moneycontrol team for 45 days, they will be guided by the experts from the financial and technological domain to improvise and build up their final product which will be available across moneycontrol platforms.
News Broadcasting
News18 hosts Tamil Nadu town hall ahead of 2026 polls
MK Stalin headlines ‘Next Big Leap’ event from 10am on 23 February in Chennai with leaders and icons.
MUMBAI: Tamil Nadu’s political pot is simmering and News18’s town hall is stirring it up just in time for the 2026 assembly elections boilover. Set for 23 February from 10am onwards in Chennai, the News18 Network Town Hall gathers heavyweights under the banner ‘The Next Big Leap for Tamil Nadu’ to dissect the state’s political pulse, economic edge, and cultural clout. With the 234-seat assembly contest looming as a fiercely competitive showdown, the event spotlights how Tamil Nadu’s identity-driven politics and engaged voters continue to ripple across national debates.
Chief minister MK Stalin leads the charge with a keynote on the theme, sketching his government’s blueprint for governance, development, and staying power pre-polls. Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin chimes in on ‘Voices, Vision & Way Forward’, unpacking generational shifts and fresh narratives. From the opposition corner, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami tackles ‘Baton Change at the Ballot?’, floating alternatives to the status quo.
Economic vibes get a nudge from industries minister TRB Rajaa on ‘Investment Story Intact?’, probing the state’s draw for big bucks. BJP’s K Annamalai dives into ‘People, Trust & Political Ideology’, positioning his party in the Dravidian-dominated turf. IT Minister Palanivel ThiagaRajan explores ‘Code, Capacity & Citizenship’, on tech’s role in citizen-focused services. TVK’s KG Arunraj questions if ‘Winds of Change are Possible’ in this pattern-prone state.
A panel on innovation features IIT Madras director Prof V Kamakoti, M&M’s Velusamy R, and Electronic Industries Association’s Dr Sasikumar Gendham, musing how AI and knowledge hubs are remaking opportunities. AICC’s Praveen Chakravarty weighs ‘Power Sharing vs Principles’, while former Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan joins the fray. Culture gets its due with composer Anirudh Ravichander on ‘Tamil Music for the World’.
CNN-News18, editorial affairs director Rahul Shivshankar noted, “The News18 Network Tamil Nadu Town Hall… reflects our core editorial focus, to capture the political mood of the state and spotlight the ideas that will shape the next phase of governance and growth.”
Network18, CEO of English & business news Smriti Mehra added, “As Tamil Nadu moves closer to a defining electoral moment… we see it as our responsibility to drive informed and meaningful conversations.”
Network18 managing editor for South, Vivek Narayan said, “The News18 Network Townhall in Tamil Nadu is designed as a platform where policy, politics and public interest intersect.”
Backed by associate partners Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles and Reliance Industries, the live event streams on CNN-News18, News18 Tamil, CTV, and Youtube from 10am on 23 February perfect for catching the sparks, even if you’re not knee-deep in Dravidian drama.
