Top Traders Get Million-Dollar Pay in Scramble for India Talent

Ambitious Indian finance professionals have never had it so good. While their international compatriots are facing job cuts and curtailed bonuses, for them it’s boomtime.

The employment market is so strong that stories abound of ghosted employers, million-dollar trading jobs, and private bankers able to demand — and get — up to a 50% pay hike to move firms.

Signs of expansion are everywhere. Optiver, one of the world’s biggest high-frequency trading firms, opened an office in Mumbai in December. Citadel Securities LLC is hiring for their new office in Gurugram. HSBC Holdings Plc and UBS Group AG, which left the onshore private-wealth market around ...