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

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

Mumbai, November 10, 2025

~ This edition saw record participation from 11,400+ students from 34 premier B-Schools across the country ~

Mumbai, 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, 2025. 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.

Disclaimer

Statements in this press release describing the Company’s performance may be “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws and regulations. Actual results may differ materially from those directly or indirectly expressed, inferred or implied. Important factors that could make a difference to the Company’s operations include, among others, economic conditions affecting demand/ supply and price conditions in the domestic and overseas markets in which the Company operates, changes in or due to the environment, Government regulations, laws, statutes, judicial pronouncements and/ or other incidental factors.

For queries and information

Sarvesh Kumar,
Chief Corporate Communications, Tata Steel,
E-mail : sarvesh.kumar@tatasteel.com

About Tata Steel

Tata Steel group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 35 million tonnes per annum.
It is one of the world's most geographically diversified steel producers, with operations and commercial presence across the world.
The group recorded a consolidated turnover of around US$26 billion in the financial year ending March 31, 2025.
A Great Place to Work®-certified organisation, Tata Steel Limited, together with its subsidiaries, associates, and joint ventures, is spread across five continents with an employee base of over 76,000.
Tata Steel has announced its major sustainability objectives including Net Zero by 2045.
The Company has been on a multi-year digital-enabled business transformation journey intending to be the leader in ‘Digital Steel making’. The Company has received the World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse recognition for its Jamshedpur, Kalinganagar, and IJmuiden Plants. Tata Steel has also been recognised with the ‘Digital Enterprise of India – Steel’ Award 2024 by Economic Times CIO.
The Company has been recognised with the World Economic Forum’s Global Diversity Equity & Inclusion Lighthouse 2023.
The Company has been a part of the DJSI Emerging Markets Index since 2012 and has been consistently ranked among the top 10 steel companies in the DJSI Corporate Sustainability Assessment since 2016.
Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur Plant is India’s first site to receive ResponsibleSteel^TM Certification. Subsequently, its Kalinganagar and Meramandali plants have also received the certification. In India, Tata Steel now has more than 90% of its steel production from ResponsibleSteel^TM certified sites.
Received Prime Minister’s Trophy for the best performing integrated steel plant for 2016-17, 2025 Steel Sustainability Champion recognition from worldsteel for eight years in a row, CDP 2024 ‘Supplier Engagement Assessment’ Leader, Top performer in Iron and Steel sector in Dun & Bradstreet's India's top 500 companies 2022, Ranked as the 2024 most valuable Mining and Metals brand in India by Brand Finance, ‘Most Ethical Company’ award 2021 from Ethisphere Institute, and ‘Best Corporate for Promotion of Sports’ recognition at the Sportstar Aces Awards 2024.
Received the 2023 Global ERM (Enterprise Risk Management) Award of Distinction at the RIMS ERM Conference 2023, ‘Masters of Risk – Risk Technology’ recognition at The India Risk Management Awards, and ICSI Business Responsibility and Sustainability Award 2023 for its first Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR), Excellence in Financial Reporting FY20 from ICAI, among several others.

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