The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission has approved a phased rollout of market coupling across India’s power exchanges, beginning with three months of pilot run.The decision shifts price-setting responsibilities from individual exchanges to a central body, a development that may hurt Indian Energy Exchange, which currently handles the bulk of trade volumes and plays a key role in price discovery.The Commission has asked the Grid Controller of India to start with pilot testing of three mechanisms: coupling the Real-Time Market (RTM) across all exchanges, coupling the RTM with Security Constrained Economic Dispatch, and coupling the Day-Ahead Market. Day-Ahead Market coupling is scheduled to go live in January 2026, while coupling of Real Time Market and Term-Ahead Market will follow in stages.Market coupling is a process where all buy and sell bids from participating exchanges are aggregated by a single market coupling operator i.e. the Grid Controller of India. This operator uses an algorithm to match supply and demand, setting one uniform market-clearing price. This replaces the current system where each exchange sets its own prices.The change is aimed at improving market efficiency, but it reduces the commercial price discovery role of exchanges like IEX in determining prices.Since IEX earns most of its revenue from high-volume trading in the Day-Ahead Market and Real-Time Market segments, the shift could affect its position and profitability.Sharp Short Covering Looms Over Thursday F&O Expiry — What It Means For Traders. Read more on Markets by NDTV Profit.