Sebi crackdown on Jane Street has an unexpected fallout on IITs

The placement teams are “evaluating” how acceptable is the US-headquartered firm, which usually picks up students during their internship process and then rolls out pre-placement offers.

“We are evaluating our options. The internship process for the batch of 2026 will start in a few days and companies come in during July and August,” said one of the placement executives at an IIT whose alumni are working for the firm. “Jane Street has been a regular recruiter over the last few years, but we are awaiting the regulator’s [final] decision.”

The executive added that Jane Street has notput in its name yet, while some of its competitors have contacted the college.

For IITs, this risks striking out a prominent hirer as markets face volatility amid global trade uncertainty and wars. Their concerns stem from the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s 3 July interim order barring four Jane Street entities from accessing the market till they deposit the alleged illegal gains worth ₹4,843 crore into an escrow account. The quant trading firm is being investigated for alleged manipulation of the Bank Nifty index on expiry days.

Sebi also froze the firm’s bank and demat accounts and barred them from the securities market until further notice.

“This interim order has only looked at 18 major instances of prima facie index manipulation,” a Sebi official told Mint on 3 July, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Investigations into other expiry days, other indices, and potential patterns will continue. The scope is large and timelines are hard to predict.”

In a statement to Mint, Jane Street said, “We dispute the findings of the Sebi interim order and will continue to engage with the regulator. Jane Street remains committed to operating in compliance with all regulations in the regions where we operate.”

Over the last few years, Jane Street has recruited from IIT-Delhi, Bombay and Madras. HFT and quant firms hire candidates who can analyze markets using mathematical and statistical models. Despite theglobal crests and troughs, this segment managed to recruit students from IITs at salaries of about ₹1 crore and higher.

IIT-Delhi, Bombay and Madras did not respond to Mint’s queries sent on Monday.

Some of the other HFTs that hire from IITs include Da Vinci, Optiver, Squarepoint, Tibra, Quadeye, Graviton Research Capital, JPMC Quant, and Maverick Derivatives. A few prefer to visit during the final placements.

“The high-frequency trading firms were sought after, but there are other companies in the same sector who may get a preference,” said a placement executive at one of the older IITs. “The placement teams and management will look into the matter, and if Jane Street is not allowed, then others are there.”

Jane Street does not recruit during the final placement season, which is typically in December for the older IITs. It picks up students during the internship period, and those selected get offers that can reach up to ₹4 crore.

Of India’s 23 IITs, the first-generation institutes–IIT Madras, Bombay, Delhi, Kharagpur, Roorkee and Kanpur–start the placement season on 1 December. The second- and third-generation IITs, along with the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), begin earlier in August-September to get a headstart.