IEX Market Coupling Case: Stock falls another 3% ahead of fresh hearing at APTEL

Shares of Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) are down another 2% on Tuesday, January 20, ahead of a fresh hearing on the market coupling case at the Electricity Appellate Tribunal (APTEL).

On Monday, the stock witnessed choppy moves after the CERC counsel told the APTEL bench that they will not implement market coupling till proper regulations are in place.

Earlier in the day, Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said that there was no change in the government's stance on market coupling.

APTEL is hearing IEX's plea seeking the withdrawal of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (CERC) July 2025 directive on day-ahead market coupling.

In the previous hearing, the tribunal had sought clarity from CERC on whether it intended to withdraw the directive, though no conclusion was reached at that stage.

Ahead of that hearing, CERC issued a circular stating that its July 2025 communication should be treated as a “direction” rather than an “order”.

IEX has argued that the CERC directive is arbitrary and violates principles of natural justice, contending that market coupling would only result in a loss of market share without delivering any tangible benefits.

Earlier, on January 6, CERC’s counsel informed APTEL that the regulator was willing to take instructions from the tribunal to withdraw the July 2025 directive.

Subsequently, the counsels sought additional time, prompting APTEL to schedule January 9 as the next hearing date. The tribunal observed that if CERC formally conveyed its intent to withdraw the directive, the matter could be closed the same day.

During a hearing on November 28, IEX had also referred to a Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) report alleging that certain CERC officials were involved in insider trading and had made illegal gains of ₹173 crore.

IEX told the tribunal that the market coupling directive, which triggered a 29% fall in its share price in a single session, was part of an alleged insider trading conspiracy.

The exchange further claimed that the directive was tainted and noted that the market regulator had identified the author of the market coupling proposal.

Shares of IEX are trading 2.6% lower on Monday at ₹133.42. The stock is down 23% in the last 12 months.