# HFT firms pay interns up to Rs 30 lakh a month 2026-08-26T10:01:49+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets High-frequency trading firms in India are offering record internship pay, with some packages reaching Rs 30 lakh per month. Gurgaon-based Quadeye is paying interns about Rs 30 lakh a month, a fourfold jump from a year earlier. Graviton Research Capital LLP is offering about Rs 5 crore for a two-month stint, up from Rs 1.6 crore. Global firms Optiver Holding BV and IMC Trading BV are also paying roughly Rs 6 crore and Rs 5 crore respectively for two-month internships. The packages target engineering students from top colleges with mathematical and coding skills. The hiring push comes as tighter derivatives regulations and declining trading volumes squeeze the market. The average daily turnover in NSE futures and options fell to a 17-month low in July. A regulator study showed proprietary traders' gross profit fell 3% in the year ending March. Recruitment firm Aquis Search said global HFTs find it hard to hire laterally for junior roles and prefer training fresh graduates from campus. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both sources report the same facts from a Bloomberg story. Times of India leads with the concrete pay figures and the quote from recruitment partner Daniel Vaz, framing the story as a market competition story. Livemint adds the comparison to IIM-A median pay and mentions RBI rules, creating a sharper contrast for the reader. Neither source adds editorial opinion. The uniform straight reporting means the core story is the numbers: intern pay at these firms now exceeds top MBA annual salaries. What the story omits is whether this pay surge will hold if derivatives volumes continue to decline. The market regulator's August study showing a 3% profit drop for proprietary firms is the concrete indicator to watch against next hiring season. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report) Leads with pay figures and market competition angle - livemint.com (neutral report) Adds MBA salary comparison and RBI rule mention for contrast This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-27T01:40:51+00:00. Tags: Graviton Research Capital, NSE, Quadeye, SEBI Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/hft-firms-pay-interns-up-to-rs-6-lakh-a-month-in-talent-war/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/hft-firms-pay-interns-up-to-rs-6-lakh-a-month-in-talent-war/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/