IIT Hyderabad student Edward Nathan Varghese creates history with a record ₹2.5 crore job offer from global trading firm Optiver, the highest ever at the institute.
The achievement marks a major moment for the relatively young IIT campus. (Photo: X)
Indian Institutes of Technology continue to make headlines for global placements. This time, IIT Hyderabad has entered the spotlight. A final-year computer science student has secured the highest salary package ever offered at the institute.
Edward Nathan Varghese, a 21-year-old student, has landed a ₹2.5 crore annual job offer. The offer has set a new placement record for IIT Hyderabad since its founding in 2008. He will join global trading firm Optiver as a software engineer in July.
The achievement marks a major moment for the relatively young IIT campus.
Edward Nathan Varghese is a final-year BTech student in computer science at IIT Hyderabad. He grew up in Hyderabad and completed most of his schooling in Bengaluru. His academic journey reflects consistency and focus.
He cracked the JEE exams in 2022 with an All India Rank of 1100 in JEE Main and 558 in JEE Advanced. These ranks earned him a seat at IIT Hyderabad, where he continued to build strong technical skills.
Edward comes from a family of engineers. His parents have expressed pride in his achievement.
Edward earned the offer after converting a summer internship into a full-time role. He interned with Optiver for two months. After the internship, the company offered him a pre-placement offer.
He reportedly outperformed another intern who was also under consideration. During the placement season, Optiver remained the only company he interviewed with.
The role he accepted is that of a software engineer at Optiver’s global operations.
Edward credits his success to early exposure to coding. He focused on competitive programming from his first year at IIT Hyderabad. The institute’s flexible academic structure also played a key role.
He balanced coursework with problem-solving practice and real-world exposure. This approach helped him stand out during the internship and final selection.
Apart from academics, Edward remained deeply involved in campus leadership. He served as the Overall Head of the Office of Career Services at IIT Hyderabad.
In this role, he led a team of eight student managers and nearly 250 coordinators. The team handled placements and internships across departments. Earlier, he also worked as an Internship Cell Coordinator for almost a year.
These roles helped him gain leadership, communication, and organisational skills. Edward also appeared for the Common Admission Test (CAT) in 2025. He scored an impressive 99.96th percentile. His rank stood at 120 nationwide. This result further highlights his academic range and preparation across disciplines.
Before this offer, IIT Hyderabad’s highest package stood at ₹1.1 crore in 2017. In the 2023–24 academic year, the top salary was ₹90 lakh. In 2024–25, it dropped to ₹66 lakh.
Edward’s ₹2.5 crore package has more than doubled the previous record. It has raised expectations for future placement seasons at the institute.
Edward Varghese’s achievement reflects the growing global demand for Indian tech talent. It also shows how internships, coding skills, and campus leadership can shape careers.
His success sets a new benchmark for IIT Hyderabad. It also inspires students across engineering colleges in India to aim higher on the global stage.
