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Power market coupling may hit exchanges’ near-term earnings, structural story intact: Axis CapitalVivek Singla, Managing Director & CEO of Power Exchange India Limited, said the changes are expected to create opportunities for gaining market share, with a more level playing field likely to help PXIL expand its presence in the total addressable market and support both revenue and profitability growth.By Reema Tendulkar   |  Prashant Nair  April 21, 2026, 1:08:34 PM IST (Published)2 Min ReadSumit Kishore, Executive Director at Axis Capital, believes that the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (CERC) proposed framework for market coupling will lead to uniform price discovery and remove the arbitrage that had concentrated liquidity at the Indian Energy Exchaange (IEX).

Kishore said, “All the three exchanges, IEX, Power Exchange India Limited (PXIL) and Hindustan Power Exchange (HPX), essentially become bid aggregators and Grid India which is market coupling operator, now would discover a uniform price for all the three exchanges for a given time slot of trading. And this would be applicable to the collective market transaction, starting with the day ahead market, and maybe in future, apply to the real time market.”

The immediate impact is likely to be felt on exchanges that currently enjoy high market share and pricing power. With uniform price discovery, competition could shift towards transaction fees and service quality, potentially putting pressure on revenues.

"Beyond markets factoring in the uncertainty around the extent of earnings cut or the impact for IEX, we are structurally positive on the growth roadmap for electricity exchanges on a long term basis."

Rising electricity demand, increasing renewable energy penetration, and the need for efficient power distribution are expected to drive higher volumes on exchanges over time.

The stock is currently trading at ₹126.29 as of 10:56 am on the NSE and has declined 33% over the last year.

The power sector is heading into a phase of structural change after the CERC proposed a formal framework for market coupling.

Kishore said public comments are open until May 16, after which the final notification will be followed by a six-month period to roll out implementation guidelines. He added that market coupling is likely to go live by the end of FY27, unless there are delays.

From an industry perspective, smaller or relatively less dominant exchanges could benefit from the new framework. Vivek Singla, Managing Director & CEO of Power Exchange India Limited (PXIL), said the changes are expected to create opportunities for gaining market share, with a more level playing field likely to help PXIL expand its presence in the total addressable market and support both revenue and profitability growth.

For the entire discussion, watch the accompanying video

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