The share price of Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) witnessed a sharp rally on Monday, climbing over 5% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). This upward movement was accompanied by exceptionally high trading volumes, indicating strong investor interest in the power trading platform's stock.
Sharp Price Rally on Robust Volumes
IEX shares jumped as much as 5.70% during the trading session, reaching an intraday high of ₹139.65 per share. The momentum was supported by trading activity that far exceeded normal levels. Data showed that approximately 1 crore (10 million) equity shares of IEX were traded on December 1, 2025. This figure is significantly higher than the stock's one-week average volume of 59 lakh shares and its one-month average of 73 lakh shares.
Legal Battle Over Market Coupling Forms the Backdrop
The surge in the stock price is set against the backdrop of crucial legal proceedings. The Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) recently scheduled the next hearing in a significant case for January 6, 2026. The hearing pertains to IEX's petition challenging the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission's (CERC) move to implement market coupling norms in the power sector.
According to a CNBC-TV18 report, APTEL has emphasized the need for an early hearing before the new regulations are formally notified. The tribunal also expressed concern over certain serious allegations raised during the proceedings. It noted that if these allegations were proven true, they would raise questions about the functioning of an independent regulator.
Insider Trading Allegations at the Core
IEX has presented a Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) report to APTEL, which alleges that certain officials within the CERC engaged in insider trading. The report claims these officials made illegal gains amounting to ₹173 crore. SEBI has reportedly connected this alleged conspiracy to trading activities involving IEX shares.
The company has argued before the tribunal that the CERC's market coupling order, which previously caused a dramatic 29% single-day crash in IEX's stock price, is part of this alleged insider trading scheme and is therefore legally "tainted." IEX has also pointed out that SEBI's report names the author of the contentious coupling order.
IEX's Stance and Potential Market Impact
IEX is seeking the complete quashing of the CERC's market coupling order and a stay on its implementation until the case is conclusively decided. The company contends that the order is arbitrary, violates principles of natural justice, and threatens to disrupt a regulatory framework that has been carefully built over 17 years. IEX argues that the order poses a significant risk to its market share without demonstrating clear benefits for the sector.
The CERC's order, issued in July, aims to implement market coupling in the Day Ahead Market (DAM) by January 2026. Under this proposed framework, different power exchanges would take turns acting as Market Coupling Operators (MCOs). Their role would be to aggregate all buy and sell orders across various platforms to discover a single, uniform market clearing price. Grid India would serve as a backup MCO and conduct pilot studies, while coupling for the real-time market would be considered at a later stage.
Financial analysts largely view the market coupling move as structurally negative for IEX. The primary concern is that it would dilute IEX's key advantage as the dominant platform for price discovery in the spot power market. This could potentially shift substantial trading volumes to rival exchanges. IEX currently commands an impressive market share of approximately 85% in the spot power segment.
Stock Performance Context
Despite Monday's rally, IEX shares remain nearly 32% below their 52-week high of ₹215.40, which was hit on June 9, 2025. The stock's performance shows a mixed picture across different timeframes: it has gained 5% over the past month but declined 27% in the last six months. On a one-year basis, the share price is down 17%, although it has delivered a substantial 102% return to investors over the past five years. By late morning on Monday, IEX shares were trading 5.38% higher at ₹146.85 on the BSE.
