Jane Street made ₹19,500 crore in India without selling a thing. Here’s how

Why did global trading giants like Jane Street only enter India after 2020? According to IIM alumnus Lokesh Ahuja, it wasn’t random—it was because India had quietly become the most explosive, pattern-rich derivatives market in the world.

Writing on LinkedIn, Ahuja traced the surge back to three key factors: a retail trading boom, the rise of weekly options, and the behavioral predictability that followed.

Between 2019 and 2024, derivatives trading volumes in India skyrocketed nearly 40×, making it the world’s largest derivatives market by volume. Ahuja pointed out that the real game-changer was the rise of the retail trader.

In 2018, retail investors made up just 2% of derivatives trading. By 2024, that number had ballooned to 41%—translating into an estimated 820× jump in retail-driven volumes. "Trading accounts jumped from 3.6 crore in 2019 to over 15 crore in 2024," he noted, driven by mobile apps, social media-fueled tips, and the thrill of high-leverage gains.

The introduction of weekly options around 2020 was another catalyst. These contracts were cheaper, required less capital, and offered faster turnarounds—making them wildly popular among retail traders. “You could enter with ₹10 and exit within minutes,” Ahuja wrote.

This behavioral clustering created predictable price moves—an ideal setup for high-frequency trading (HFT) firms like Jane Street. Armed with speed and sophisticated algorithms, these players began capitalizing on retail habits.

The payoff? In 2024 alone, Jane Street reportedly made over ₹19,500 crore in profit from Indian equity derivatives—more than the entire annual revenue of Britannia, one of India’s biggest consumer brands.

“And they did it without selling a single biscuit,” Ahuja quipped.

His conclusion: India isn’t just a large market—it’s a predictable one. And in a game where speed wins, algorithmic giants are here to stay.