What would it take for Maharashtra to become India's innovation hub by 2035? Six teams of business and public policy students are putting their answers directly to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today. The fourth edition of The Governance Challenge (TGC), billed as India's first governance-focused competition, reaches its Summit Round on 30 September at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, NCPA, Mumbai. The six finalists were whittled down from 4,429 teams over three months of competition. A 2035 brief with a deep tech lens This year's edition is hosted by the Government of Maharashtra and supported by the Gates Foundation. Its theme, Catalysing Innovation, came with a single question for participants: what can the state government do to make Maharashtra an innovation hub by 2035? The brief builds on moves the state has already made. These include the Maharashtra Startup, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy 2025, the Rs 500 crore Chief Minister MahaFund, and the proposed Maharashtra Innovation City. Teams were asked to push further, with a particular focus on deep tech. Solutions had to target one of six domains: agriculture, healthcare, education, governance, financial inclusion, and urban development. TGC runs annually across 30 business and public policy institutions. Earlier editions partnered with the governments of Haryana, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh. Record turnout at the campus stage The competition opened with a Campus Round in August 2026. It drew the largest participation in TGC's history: 4,429 teams and 13,287 students across the 30 institutions. After evaluation, each institution picked one Campus Winner to move on to the Nationals Round. Bureaucrats and domain experts on the jury On 11 and 12 September, the 30 Campus Winners presented virtually to a jury pairing a senior state official with a domain expert for each of the six domains. Domain Government jury member Domain expert Healthcare Dr Nipun Vinayak, Principal Secretary, Public Health Department Anantha Krishnan, Deputy Director, Health R&D, Gates Foundation Urban Development Aseem Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development Manish Srivastava, CEO, Sustainable Cities, IIT Kanpur Agriculture Parimal Singh, Secretary, Agriculture Department Kaushik Kappagantulu, CEO, Kheyti Financial Inclusion Vikas Rastogi, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department Noopur Chaturvedi, CEO and MD, NPCI Bharat Connect Governance V Radha, Additional Chief Secretary, General Administration Department Ankit Goel, Vice President, Samagra Education Ranjit Singh Deol, Principal Secretary, School Education and Sports Department Shaveta Sharma-Kukreja, Trustee and Advisory Board Member, CSF The jury shortlisted six teams for the Summit. The same 12 members then mentored the finalists they had selected, helping them sharpen their proposals before today's presentations. Six finalists, one stage The teams presenting today come from Indian School of Business, BITS School of Management, SJMSOM at IIT Bombay, Masters' Union, IIM Mumbai, and IIM Ranchi. They pitch to CM Fadnavis, joined by Rajesh Aggarwal, Chief Secretary of Maharashtra, and Deepak Karanjikar, Member of the Governing Council of the Maharashtra Institute for Transformation. The top three teams will share a prize pool of Rs 9 lakh. They also receive certificates and individual pre-placement interview opportunities with Samagra. Why it matters TGC gives students a rare line of sight into how policy is actually made, and gives the state a pipeline of fresh ideas vetted by the officials who would implement them. With the MahaFund and Innovation City already in motion, today's pitches land at a moment when Maharashtra is actively shaping its innovation agenda. The competition is organised by Samagra, a governance consulting firm that works only with governments. It partners with senior political and bureaucratic leaders at the state and national levels on systemic reforms, using technology and data to improve delivery across education, agriculture, skilling, employment, health, and public services.