Bharti Airtel's flagship innovation challenge. No quiz, straight to the case.
Airtel iCreate 2026 is Bharti Airtel's flagship innovation challenge, a launchpad for bold thinkers and creative problem-solvers. Airtel is calling the brightest minds from the top B-schools to #ResetOurGame and shape the future with them. Your ideas will not sit on paper, they become part of real solutions that make a real difference. Two parallel tracks for 1st and 2nd year MBAs, up to ₹14 lakh in cash across both tracks, PPI and PPO opportunities for finalists, and the case brief is live from day one.
Register first, the case is already live
Registration is open now
Airtel iCreate 2026 runs on Unstop with two parallel tracks, one for 1st year MBAs and one for 2nd year MBAs, both open to students at the Top 40 B-schools. There is no quiz, no simulation gate, and no pre-elimination round. The case brief goes live the day registrations open, so the moment you sign up you can start reading the problem and drafting your submission. Register on your track link below, form the team, and start solving.
📶 Airtel iCreate 2026 · Two Tracks · Case is live
Register on Unstop
Total cash rewards across both tracks add up to ₹14 lakh, plus PPI and PPO opportunities and national finalist certificates. Pick your track below and start the submission today. Do not wait for the deadline, in a straight-to-case format the teams that start early win.
🎓 First Year Track
₹4L Winner · ₹2L Runners-Up
Winner ₹4,00,000 cash + certificate. First Runners-Up ₹2,00,000 cash + certificate. National Finalists get PPI/PPO opportunities (subject to eligibility), certificates, and a chance to network with Airtel's leadership and experience the #BeLimitless spirit.
Higher prize pool for 2nd years. Winner ₹5,00,000 cash + certificate. First Runners-Up ₹3,00,000 cash + certificate. National Finalists get PPI/PPO opportunities (subject to eligibility), certificates, and direct networking access to Airtel leadership.
₹14 lakh in cash across both tracks (₹6L on the 1st year track, ₹8L on the 2nd year track), plus PPI and PPO opportunities for national finalists and certificates for every shortlisted team. Airtel rewards practical, actionable ideas, not just the biggest slide count.
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Who can apply
Full-time 1st and 2nd year MBA / PGDM students from the Top 40 B-schools in India. Both tracks run in parallel with the same format, but you register into your own year's track.
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The format edge
No quiz. No pre-elimination simulation. You start directly with the case. That is unusual for a competition of this scale, and it means the whole competition is decided on the quality of your thinking, not on trivia.
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Calendar timing
iCreate opens in a window with very few other big corporate cases running. Less competition for headspace, cleaner focus, better decks. Do not underestimate this, timing is half the battle in case competitions.
Why iCreate matters this year
A practical case, from day one
Most large case competitions front-load a quiz or a simulation to filter numbers before anyone gets to touch the actual business problem. That structure rewards a specific skill, quick trivia recall or dashboard navigation, and it can knock out strong strategic thinkers before they even see the case. Airtel iCreate breaks that pattern. There is no gatekeeping round. The case is live from the day the platform opens, and the entire competition is decided on the quality of the recommendation you build.
Airtel is known for setting problem statements that mirror what its own strategy team is actively working on. In past editions, teams worked on real business problems tied to prepaid growth, monetising the Airtel Thanks app, DTH churn, small-town expansion, enterprise B2B pitches and telecom-plus-content bundling. These are not academic case studies, they are close to live business questions. That is why the format is called Airtel iCreate, the emphasis is on creating something usable, not on writing a textbook framework.
The 1st year and 2nd year tracks run in parallel with the same round structure and comparable prize pools. The reason for splitting them is fairness on experience, a 2nd year with a full internship behind them has an obvious edge over a 1st year six weeks into their programme, and Airtel wants both groups to have a real shot at the podium.
A useful reframe
Think of iCreate as a product-strategy case for a telco with a fintech and content arm
If you can frame a growth or monetisation problem for Airtel Payments Bank, Wynk, Xstream, Airtel Business, Airtel Thanks or the core prepaid engine, you can write a strong iCreate deck. You do not need telecom expertise, you need structured thinking, one clear recommendation, and a business impact you can defend with a number.
Both tracks follow the same broad structure. The prize pool and jury composition may differ slightly, but the rounds themselves and what the evaluators reward are effectively identical. Here is what past participants have gone through, and what to expect this year.
1
Round 1 · Registration + Case Live
Team registration on Unstop, case brief drops the same day
Register your team, complete your profile, download the case document. Teams are typically of 2 to 4 students from the same campus. The case brief is released the moment registrations open, so there is no waiting period, no quiz, no pre-elimination filter. The clock on your thinking starts the day you sign up.
Register today even if your team is not fully formed, so you can read the brief and start scoping the problem. Team locks close to the submission deadline, you can adjust members after the initial registration.
2
Round 2 · Case Submission
The main PPT submission, this is the round that shortlists
A structured deck responding to the Airtel brief, usually 10 to 15 slides. Past briefs have asked teams to solve for prepaid growth, Thanks app monetisation, DTH strategy, rural distribution, small-town expansion or enterprise B2B pitching. Whatever the theme, evaluators are looking for one sharp recommendation, defended with real Airtel context and a credible business impact number.
Write the executive summary before you build any other slide. Problem in one line, recommendation in one line, business impact in one line. If those three sentences do not fit together cleanly, do not start slide four yet.
3
Round 3 · Regional / Zonal Pitch
Shortlisted teams present live to Airtel managers, often in a simulation-flavoured format
Airtel usually runs a live pitch round with shortlisted teams presenting to a panel of Airtel category managers or business leaders. In some past editions this round has also included a mini simulation or a live scenario, where the panel throws a curveball, for example a sudden competitor price cut or a regulatory change, and asks teams to respond on the spot. Sharp Q&A and rapid response matter more than a beautiful deck at this stage.
Prepare a one-page 'defence sheet' for your recommendation. List the three biggest objections a skeptical Airtel manager will raise, and write the one paragraph answer for each. Have a teammate role-play the panel and stress-test it out loud, at least twice.
4
Round 4 · National Grand Finale
Top teams from both tracks present to Airtel leadership
The finale is a live pitch to senior Airtel leadership, typically at an Airtel office or a partner venue. Cash prizes, PPIs and the top awards are decided here. Expect tight timing on the pitch, brutal Q&A, and back-to-back team presentations. Teams that reach this stage often walk out with PPI conversations even if they do not win the top prize.
Rehearse the finale answers, not the finale slides. Senior leaders rarely sit through every slide. They will jump to slide three, the recommendation, and pressure-test it. You win the finale in the answers, and in how confidently you own the number on your impact slide.
A practical heads up on the platform
Unstop can glitch under submission-day load, protect yourself
Take screenshots of every submission, keep the timestamp on the confirmation page, and save the confirmation email. If anything breaks, write to Unstop support immediately with the screenshots. They are responsive, but only if you have proof and you flag it fast. Do not wait till the next day.
Past case flavours, what iCreate briefs actually look like
Practical, close to real business, and Airtel-specific
iCreate briefs are rarely generic. They are built off real Airtel strategy questions and stress-tested by internal category managers before they land on the Unstop page. Recurring themes from past editions include prepaid ARPU growth, converting Airtel Thanks users into cross-sell customers for Payments Bank, growing DTH in the age of streaming, small-town and rural distribution economics, positioning Airtel Business for mid-market enterprise clients, and content bundling across Wynk and Xstream. The specific product changes each year, but the structure of the brief is stable, pick an angle, define the customer segment, propose a sharp recommendation, defend it with a business impact estimate, and outline how you would roll it out.
What separates finalists from Round 2 exits is almost always the same thing. Finalists picked a narrow, specific angle rather than trying to redesign the entire Airtel portfolio. They anchored numbers in Airtel's own investor deck, TRAI subscriber data, and credible external sources. And they wrote the deck like a business case, not like a class assignment. That structure works on both tracks.
Simulation and live-scenario rounds, based on past experience
When Airtel throws a curveball, have a system ready
Some past editions of iCreate have added a live scenario or a mini simulation inside the pitch round. The format has varied, sometimes a sudden competitive move, sometimes a churn spike in a specific circle, sometimes a regulatory change on tariffs. The common pattern is that you get very little prep time and the jury wants to see how you think under pressure, not how many frameworks you can quote.
The teams that handle this well share a habit. They pause for ten seconds, restate the problem in their own words to make sure they heard it right, name the two or three levers they will consider, pick one with a clear reason, and commit. Ten seconds of visible structured thinking beats thirty seconds of a scattered answer, every single time. Practise this out loud with your teammate at least once before the pitch round, it makes a bigger difference than any slide edit.
First year track, specific guidance
First years, this is a rare early shot
1
Do not try to sound like a 2nd year
Evaluators can smell over-engineered jargon in a 1st year deck. Write clean, straight recommendations. Your advantage is a fresh outsider lens on Airtel's customer experience, use it.
2
Ground everything in one Airtel product you actually use
Airtel Thanks, Xstream, Payments Bank, prepaid recharge, DTH. Pick one, use it for a week as an active customer, take notes on friction. A recommendation built off lived customer insight is very hard for a jury to argue with.
3
Pair up with a teammate who thinks differently
If both of you have the same background, the deck will be half strong. Pair a structured thinker with a sharp deck builder, or a data-led teammate with a confident presenter. Same-strength teams routinely lose to mixed teams in the later rounds.
Second year track, specific guidance
Second years, this is a placement-window play
1
Bring your summer internship lens into the deck
If you interned in FMCG, tech, consulting or telecom-adjacent industries, bring that operating context in. Airtel evaluators reward specific, industry-grounded thinking. Do not hide the internship, use it as evidence.
2
Time this alongside your placement prep, not against it
The iCreate calendar is friendly to Term 5, but it will still compete with lateral prep, PPO conversions and final placements. Block two focused weekends for the case submission and one clear week for pitch rehearsals, not scattered evening hours.
3
Treat the pitch round like a real Airtel interview
PPIs from iCreate are real. The finale panel doubles as your first Airtel interview. Show up in interview-grade attire, know the last three quarters of Airtel's investor deck cold, and be ready to talk about your recommendation for fifteen minutes without any slides.
Common tips that work on both tracks
What separates Round 2 teams from finalists
1
Read three Airtel documents before you start writing
The latest annual report, the most recent investor presentation, and one press release on a flagship initiative like Airtel Business, Payments Bank or Xstream. One hour of reading up front lifts the quality of every slide you build later.
2
Use Airtel's own language on your slides
Airtel Thanks, Xstream, Airtel Black, Payments Bank, prepaid, postpaid, DTH, ARPU, circle. The right vocabulary signals you have done the work, and jury members notice it inside the first two slides.
3
Anchor every recommendation in a number
Airtel's investor deck, TRAI data, or a credible secondary source. Directional statements with no number attached are the fastest way to get dropped between Round 2 and the pitch shortlist.
4
Pick one angle, do not redesign the whole company
One customer segment, one product, one channel. A sharp narrow recommendation with a defendable impact beats a sprawling five-idea deck every single time.
5
Rehearse the pitch Q&A out loud
List the fifteen toughest questions an Airtel category manager could ask, and write the one paragraph answer for each. The teams that carry this prep document into the pitch round convert to the finale far more often than the ones who do not.
6
Take screenshots of every submission
Unstop can glitch under load. Your only safety net is your screenshots, the confirmation page timestamp and the confirmation email. Keep them in a single folder for the whole competition.
A closing reframe
Straight to the case. Both years welcome. Register today.
Airtel iCreate 2026 is one of the cleanest opportunities on this year's calendar. No quiz, no pre-elimination gate, a live practical case from day one, meaningful cash prizes, and PPIs on both the 1st year and 2nd year tracks. The competition slot is also unusually quiet, most major corporate cases are either wrapped up or a few weeks away, so your team can give iCreate the focused attention it deserves.
Register on your track link today, download the brief, and start with the executive summary on day one. In a straight-to-case format, the teams that start reading earliest almost always end up on the pitch shortlist.
A quick checklist before you hit submit
1. Team is registered on the correct track link, 1st year or 2nd year, and profile is complete.
2. Submission file is named exactly the way Unstop asks, with team name and round.
3. The exec summary fits on one slide and stands on its own.
4. Every claim has a number, with the source named on the slide or in the appendix.
5. Screenshot of the confirmation page and the confirmation email are saved.
Expert-led classes, real cases and pitch-ready frameworks.
AceCase Pro and AcePrep Pro come together inside Super100, our flagship 12-month track for MBAs who want to win competitions and convert placements in the same year. Every session is recorded, so joining later still gets you the full program.
✦ 70+ expert-led sessions across case, product, strategy, marketing and consumer thinking
✦ 12 months of access to every recording, framework and PPT template, so you can catch up whenever you join
✦ Live case teardowns of past corporate briefs, including telecom, FMCG and BFSI
✦ Deck reviews and pitch drills that mirror the real jury and manager panels you will face
✦ 1:1 mentorship from seniors who have won national competitions and converted PPIs into offers
✦ A private cohort of MBAs from the Top B-schools, for team formation, peer reviews and warm intros
This article references Airtel iCreate 2026 for educational and informational purposes only. AceMBA is an independent MBA career-readiness platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or officially associated with Bharti Airtel, Airtel Payments Bank, Airtel Business, Xstream, Wynk, Unstop, or any business school referenced. All names, brands, logos and trademarks, including Airtel, iCreate, Airtel Thanks, Airtel Black, Xstream and Wynk, are the sole property of their respective owners and are used here purely for informational and reference purposes. All competition details, eligibility criteria, dates, prizes, tracks and round structures are drawn from publicly available sources, including the official Unstop competition pages and past student experiences, and may change at the sole discretion of Airtel or Unstop for the 2026 edition. Always refer to the official Unstop pages for authoritative details on eligibility, format, dates, prizes and rules. References to past editions and winning approaches are based on publicly shared accounts and AceMBA mentor observations, not on confidential Airtel evaluation criteria. Commentary on platform reliability is based on past student experiences and is shared only to help participants prepare proactively. Outcomes vary from team to team, and AceMBA accepts no responsibility for any decision, outcome, expectation or result arising from following the guidance shared here. References to external platforms, including Unstop and the Case Mastery workshop registration link, are for convenience only and do not constitute endorsement, partnership or sponsorship beyond what is explicitly stated.
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