Overview

• The CERC approved a three-month pilot for day-ahead market coupling starting January 2026 to unify price discovery across India’s power exchanges.
• In Q1 FY26 IEX posted a 25% year-on-year profit increase to Rs 120.69 crore and a 13.2% revenue rise to Rs 139.9 crore, followed by an 8% share price decline to Rs 134.60.
• Bernstein, Jefferies, Nuvama, Elara Securities and MOFSL have issued reduce or underperform calls and cut IEX price targets to between Rs 99 and Rs 145.
• Projections show IEX’s combined day-ahead and real-time market share shrinking from near 99.8% to about 70% by FY27/28, with trading margins likely dropping to 3–3.5 paise per kilowatt-hour.
• Experts say IEX’s backend platform and execution in coupling operations will determine its ability to retain volumes and adapt to the planned market-based economic dispatch by 2033.