Global trading giants including Citadel Securities, IMC Trading, Millennium Management, and Optiver are ramping up operations in India, especially in the derivatives space, leading to a surge in talent hiring and infrastructure upgrades. With India’s derivatives market contributing nearly 60% of global volumes, the inflow of foreign firms is driving a recruitment race and technology investments by both the NSE and BSE.
Top global trading firms including Citadel Securities, IMC Trading, Millennium Management, and Optiver are significantly increasing their presence in India’s fast-growing derivatives markets. This surge is triggering a talent acquisition boom and large-scale infrastructure upgrades by India’s two major exchanges — the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
India, which accounted for nearly 60% of global equity derivatives trading volumes in April 2025 according to the Futures Industry Association, is witnessing unprecedented interest from foreign quantitative and high-frequency trading firms. The notional turnover of derivatives contracts in the country has grown 48 times since March 2018, as per local regulatory data.
The growing competition is making India a strategic location for global players. In 2024, Jane Street reportedly made $2.34 billion from its India strategy alone, setting off a rush by other firms.
IMC Trading, a Netherlands-headquartered market maker, plans to expand its India team by over 50% by 2026, according to Managing Director Jocelyn Dentand. “We almost solely hire our traders and software engineers from IITs, but we are now exploring talent beyond these institutes as well,” Dentand said.
Citadel Securities, founded by billionaire investor Kenneth Griffin, has also established a local team of about 10, including a country head of trading and a newly appointed COO, a source revealed.
Millennium is expanding its India desk via its bases in Dubai and Singapore, while Optiver, which launched operations in India in 2024, plans to scale its team to 100 by end-2025 from the current 70.
Meanwhile, job postings show Da Vinci Derivatives and Qube Research & Technologies are hiring for quantitative roles in India, highlighting the intensifying competition for top tech and trading talent.
According to Aquis Search, nearly 300 professionals have been recruited across trading, compliance, legal, and technology functions by foreign firms in India over the past two years. “We foresee a good run for the next few years,” said Annpurna Bist, head of quant and tech at the firm.
Bhautik Ambani, head of AlphaGrep Investment Management, one of India’s leading quant trading firms, noted that salary levels for junior traders have more than doubled over the past three years due to fierce competition.
To support the surge in activity, both NSE and BSE are significantly enhancing their technology. The NSE plans to add 2,000 co-location racks by 2027. The BSE, a relatively late entrant in co-location services, is building up to 500 racks by FY26 from zero in March 2024.
“We need to provide additional value to meet the unmet demand from high-frequency trading and quant firms,” said BSE CEO Sundararaman Ramamurthy. He stated that BSE has invested between ₹4.5 billion and ₹5 billion (approx. $52–$58 million) in tech infrastructure over the past two years.
Despite the regulatory silence from SEBI and the NSE regarding further developments, the momentum from global players indicates that India is fast becoming the new battleground for quantitative finance.
