IEX shares crash 28% as market coupling will come into effect from January 2026; all you need to know

The stock ended at ₹135.49 on the NSE, down 27.89%.

The regulator's move is aimed at improving price discovery and system efficiency.

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) said in an order that the day-ahead market segment of all power exchanges will be coupled using a common system.

What CERC said earlier on market coupling

According to a draft on market coupling in 2023, CERC said the Indian power sector was undergoing a transformative shift from a predominantly fossil-based system to an increasingly renewable-centric one, calling for a change in the design of electrical systems, markets, and regulations.

Recognising this need, especially to achieve the target of 500 GW of renewable capacity by 2030, a series of regulations have been introduced by the CERC. One of the focal areas has been an emphasis on a market-based mechanism to facilitate the entry of renewables that includes inter alia ‘Power Market Coupling’ to enhance liquidity in the wholesale spot market since the Ministry of Power (MoP) directed CERC to initiate the market coupling process across multiple electricity exchanges.

Coupling presents a unique opportunity to form a bigger connected liquid and efficient marketplace to overcome many of the limitations of a fragmented market that currently has only 7% liquidity, multiple segments, a very low price cap, and aggressive bidding by the supply side in the face of unfulfilled demand.

Impact on IEX

The implementation of a market coupling model could reduce the IEX's dominance in price discovery and affect its market share, as currently, the Indian Energy Exchange is the country's most prominent platform for electricity spot price discovery.

The new move is also expected to hit the revenue of IEX.

Under the new system, power exchanges will take turns acting as the market coupling operator. Grid-India will serve as a backup and audit operator.

CERC said the following.

• The Day-Ahead Market (DAM) will transition to a round‑robin market-coupling model by January 2026.

• The Term-Ahead Market (TAM) and Real-Time Market (RTM) will be integrated later, following pilot studies and consultations.

All power exchanges have been directed to share data with Grid-India and the CERC to support the rollout, the regulator said.

The CERC said it would issue further orders based on the progress of implementation.

However, with the introduction of market coupling, other power exchanges will also act as market couplers.

About IEX

IEX is India's leading power exchange, providing a nationwide automated trading platform for the physical delivery of electricity, renewable energy, and certificates. IEX additionally introduced cross-border electricity trade to expand our market reach beyond India.

The IEX ecosystem comprises more than 8,100 stakeholders located across 28 states and 8 union territories.