IIT Hyderabad Student Bags Record ₹2.5 Crore Package, Sets New Campus Benchmark

A 21-year-old final-year computer science engineering student from IIT Hyderabad, Edward Nathan Varghese, has created history by securing an unprecedented salary package of Rs 2.5 crore — the highest placement offer the institute has witnessed since its establishment in 2008. The offer comes from Optiver, a renowned global trading firm headquartered in the Netherlands.

Edward is set to join the company as a software engineer in July, after successfully converting a two-month internship into a pre-placement offer. He reportedly edged out another intern during the evaluation process. Edward credits his achievement to IIT Hyderabad’s flexible academic structure, strong coding culture, and his sustained focus on competitive programming since his first year. Notably, Optiver was the only company he interviewed with during placements.

Born in Hyderabad and later educated in Bengaluru from Class 7 to 12, Edward boasts an impressive academic track record. He secured AIR 1100 in JEE Main and AIR 558 in JEE Advanced (2022). He also scored 99.96 percentile in CAT 2025, ranking 120 nationwide.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Edward has served as the Overall Head of the Office of Career Services at IIT Hyderabad, leading a team of eight student managers and 250 coordinators responsible for placements and internships. He previously worked as an Internship Cell Coordinator for nearly a year.

Sharing his interests, Edward notes that he is passionate about algorithms, competitive programming, finance, and management, and looks forward to collaborating with people in these fields. His engineer parents are said to be thrilled with his accomplishment.

Until now, IIT Hyderabad’s highest recorded package stood at Rs 1.1 crore in 2017. The top offers in recent years were Rs 90 lakh in 2023-24 and Rs 66 lakh in 2024-25, making Edward’s achievement a record-breaking milestone.