IEX Shares Slide 6% as CERC Releases Draft Market Coupling Framework

Shares of

nergy Exchange (IEX) plunged over 6% on Monday after the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) issued the draft Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Power Market) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2026. The notification proposes Grid India as the sole Market Coupling Operator (MCO) to aggregate bids from all power exchanges and discover a uniform price across the day-ahead and real-time markets. Market coupling is expected to significantly erode IEX’s dominant position in the power trading segment, where it currently commands over 90% share in key segments like DAM and RTM. While IEX has built its leadership through superior liquidity and technology, the new framework could redistribute volumes to smaller exchanges such as PXIL and HPX, diluting IEX’s pricing power and revenue stream.