Rs 30 lakh a month for an intern? India’s high-speed trading firms are in a fierce talent war

​The firms are sharply increasing internship pay as they compete for a limited pool of engineers with strong mathematical, coding and problem-solving skills.

High-frequency trading (HFT) firms in India are offering record compensation to interns as they compete for quantitative talent amid tighter derivatives regulations and slowing activity in the country’s equity markets.Gurgaon-based Quadeye is offering interns about Rs 3 million ($31,346) a month, or Rs 6 million for a typical two-month internship, according to sources quoted by Bloomberg. That is around four times what it offered a year earlier.Graviton Research Capital LLP is offering about Rs 5 million for a two-month internship, up from around Rs 1.6 million previously, the sources said.Global HFT firms are also raising their offers. Amsterdam-based IMC Trading BV has doubled its two-month internship package to about Rs 5 million, while Optiver Holding BV is offering around Rs 6 million, according to the people.The packages are being offered to students at some of India’s leading engineering colleges. The amounts highlight the intense competition for quantitative talent — engineers who build mathematical models and trading strategies and develop systems capable of identifying and executing trades at high speed.“There is increasing aggression from global HFTs to hire straight from campus,” said Daniel Vaz, a partner at recruitment firm Aquis Search. He said firms prefer to train young engineers from the ground up rather than recruit them later.

Why are HFT firms paying so much?

The hiring push comes as India’s derivatives market faces tighter regulation and declining trading activity. The average daily notional turnover in futures and options listed on the NSE fell to a 17-month low in July.A market regulator study published in August found that proprietary trading firms, including HFTs, saw their gross profit decline 3% in the year ended March from a year earlier, as reported by Bloomberg.Indian HFT firms are also expanding into other asset classes and overseas markets, increasing demand for skilled engineers.“Global firms are not finding candidates with adequate depth in lateral hiring for junior to mid-level roles,” Vaz said.