- Edward Nathan Varghese secured a Rs 2.5 crore package at IIT Hyderabad, highest ever
- The offer came from Optiver, a global trading firm based in the Netherlands
- Edward converted his summer internship into a pre-placement offer at Optiver
A 21-year-old final-year computer science engineering student, Edward Nathan Varghese, has made history at the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IITH) by securing a staggering package of Rs 2.5 crore. This is the highest ever package received at the institute since its inception in 2008. The offer has been extended by Optiver, a global trading firm in the Netherlands.
Edward will join the firm as a software engineer in July. He secured the position after converting his two-month summer internship into a pre-placement offer. During the process, he outshone another student who was also selected for the internship. The 21-year-old attributes his success to the IIT tag, flexible curriculum and strong focus on coding and competitive programming since his first year of engineering. As per media reports, Edward mentioned this was the first and the only company he interviewed for during the placement process.
Edward was born and raised in Hyderabad and later schooled in Bengaluru from class 7-12. He scored AIR 1100 in JEE Main and AIR 558 in JEE Advanced in 2022. In 2025 Common Admission Test, he achieved a CAT score of 99.96 percentile and ranked 120.
As per his LinkedIn profile, Edward has been the Overall Head at Office of Career Services at IIT Hyderabad where he led a team of eight student managers and 250 coordinators across various cell to drive placements and internships. Prior to that he worked as Internship Cell Coordinator for around eleven months.
Talking about his passion, he mentions, "My interests span algorithms, competitive programming, finance and management. I'm eager to explore these domains and connect with like-minded individuals."
Both his parents are engineers and are extremely happy and proud for his achievement.
Until now the highest package received by any student at IIT Hyderabad was Rs 1.1 crore in 2017. In 2023-24, the highest package was Rs 90 lakh and in 2024-25 it was Rs 66 lakh.
