Shares of Indian Energy Exchange Ltd (IEX) fell by more than 7% on Monday following the release of a draft notification by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) regarding power market norms, which included provisions for market coupling. The regulator has sought public feedback on reintroducing market coupling, a system that would establish a single price for electricity across various trading platforms.
The potential implementation of market coupling could impact IEX’s market share and dominance in the power sector. Currently, IEX shares are trading at Rs 125.59 each, reflecting a decline of Rs 10.22 or 7.53%.
In a previous directive dated July 23, 2025, CERC had instructed the adoption of market coupling, leading to a 30% drop in IEX shares the next day. As per the earlier CERC mandate, Grid-India would consolidate energy prices from all power trading platforms to publish a unified price for day-ahead markets.
Electricity trading presently takes place on three exchanges, namely IEX, Power Exchange of India, and Hindustan Power Exchange of India, with IEX holding an 85% market share and a dominant presence in day-ahead and real-time markets. If market coupling is enforced, a single market-clearing price will be applicable across all exchanges, streamlining the bidding process for buyers and sellers.
Under the proposed mechanism, exchanges will collect bids and forward them to a designated agency responsible for determining the common price. Market coupling is expected to eliminate the competitive advantage enjoyed by IEX, potentially affecting its revenue generation from high-volume trading in the Day-Ahead Market and Real-Time Market segments, as per analysts’ assessments.
