Tata Steel announces winners of the 12th edition of its Annual Business Challenge - Steel-a-thon

Chandigarh, November 10, 2025: Tata Steel announced the winners of the 12th edition of its flagship annual business challenge, Steel-a-thon, in a thrilling grand finale held in Kolkata on November 7. This competition, designed for India's premier B-Schools, offers students a unique opportunity to work on real-life business challenges and receive mentorship from Tata Steel's leadership.

Team ‘Pathfinders’ from IIM Rohtak emerged as the winner, and team ‘The Infallibles’ from IIFT Kolkata secured the runner-up position in the Growth Track. Team ‘Metallica#3’ from XIM Bhubaneswar emerged as the winner, and Team ‘Refractories’ from XIM Bhubaneswar secured the runner-up position in the Value Chain Track. Team ‘The Steel Deal’ from MDI Gurgaon emerged as the winner, and team ‘Master at Management’ from IIM Ranchi secured the runner-up position in the People Track.

"Steel-a-thon represents our commitment to nurturing the next generation of business leaders and fostering innovative thinking within the student fraternity," said Peeyush Gupta, Vice President - TQM, Group Strategic Procurement & Supply Chain, Tata Steel. "The quality of solutions presented by these talented teams demonstrates the strategic thinking and operational excellence that will drive the steel industry's future. On behalf of Tata Steel, I congratulate the winners and thank all the participants for making this edition a resounding success.”

The Steel-a-thon competition, now in its 12th year, witnessed an overwhelming response with participation from 11,400+ students from 34 renowned B-Schools across India. This year, the theme of the competition was "Redefining Tomorrow's Steel with ONE Tata Steel."

The participating teams were presented with three distinct tracks, each centered around crucial business themes: "Orchestrating Growth" in the Growth track, "Nurturing Value Chain" in the Value Chain track, and "Empowering Employees" in the People track. A total of 22 case studies were floated across these three tracks. This edition also featured case studies from Tata Steel UK and Tata Steel Nederland, offering participants the opportunity to engage with the Company's global leadership.

The competition commenced with 1,500+ teams submitting their executive summaries for the pre-finale. After rigorous evaluation, 180+ teams progressed to the pre-finale round, and ultimately, 18 teams secured their spot in the finale.

The finalists presented their innovative business case solutions to a distinguished jury comprising leadership from Tata Steel: Peeyush Gupta, Vice President - TQM, Group Strategic Procurement & Supply Chain; Prabhat Kumar, Vice President - Marketing and Sales (Flat Products); and Zubin Palia, CHRO India Manufacturing.

The winning teams from each track received cash prizes of INR 250,000, while the first runners-up were awarded cash prizes of INR 150,000. Both the winning teams and runners-up were awarded Pre-Placement Offers, and Pre-Placement Interview opportunities were extended to all National Finalists, opening doors to potential career opportunities with Tata Steel.