According to Saran, while HPX currently has limited volumes in the Day Ahead Market due to liquidity concentration at IEX, the introduction of market coupling will create a level playing field.
He is confident that HPX can capture at least a one-third share once the reform is implemented in January 2026, driven by competitive service offerings and a strong technology backbone.Read Here | PTC India MD explains HPX’s strategy to gain ground post market coupling
These are edited excerpts of the interview.
Q: We want your initial reaction as to how exactly now since the order of market coupling has come, what is the current market share you enjoy in the day ahead market, what is the kind of market share that you aspire to be? We also had one of the promoters, PTC India sounding quite bullish, saying that a 33% market share is not really off the table?
A: The honourable commission’s order, which has come yesterday, on market coupling, is a forward looking and it is basically a strategic reform that would lay the foundation for a truly integrated and efficient electricity market in the country.
Ultimately, what would happen once the coupling takes place, the discovery of the prices in the exchange would be uniform. By enabling the uniform price discovery across the exchanges through a centralised algorithm, market coupling will ultimately foster competition. It will also give way for optimisation of transmission uses, and further, it would ensure fair and transparent access for all the participants.
As far as the day-ahead market is concerned, because of the liquidity issues, we don’t have much volume in that segment right now. But once coupling takes place, then it would become uniform for all the exchanges to go to the customer, and whosoever provide the best services to the customer would gain the market.
Moreover, this reform is also critical, because we are moving towards MBED, or Market-Based Economic Dispatch. This coupling would help realise this vision of a single national merit order, and improving overall system efficiency.
Read Here | IEX share crash: PTC India confident that unit HPX will reach 33% market share after coupling normsQ: What would it mean for HPX in general, how much market share will you be able to increase? You said it’s almost nil currently. PTC said that 33% is something that you can achieve. What’s your own target for that?
A: Yes, I think once coupling takes place, that would be the minimum target, which I am looking for, 33%.
Q: On the competition itself, as far as IEX was concerned, we understand that they were charging close to four paisa per unit, and they had close to 100% market share, like you yourself alluded to. What are the charges that you are currently charging customers, what is the kind of discounting that you can provide, and what is the kind of market share shift you can expect come January 26?
A: We will look into details and see all these things are going to be discussed in the days to come. And ultimately, what I have told you, because I spent a lot of time in power trading, I have an experience of almost 26 years of power trading, and there people also say that margin is the game changer. But on the basis of my experience, I think that it is not the margin. At the end of the day, consumer wants services those who provide them the best services – because in the country we are having a segment which is known as C&I customers. These are all very small players. They don’t have so much of infrastructure available with them to do all these work. So as I said, whosoever is going to provide the best services to the customers will win the game.
Q: As far as the pilot study itself was concerned, we understand that Grid India actually did mention saying that customers at this point of time weren’t really dissatisfied with IEX’s services. In fact, they did mention that they don’t see any significant gain arising out of market coupling. The other question that I want to ask you is, are you ready with the technology, in case market coupling is implemented from Jan 2026 are you ready for the price discovery to happen at your platform? And thirdly, the RTM market, what is the outlook?
A: So as far as readiness is concerned, I am sure that we would be ready by January 1, 2026 and moreover, we have some time in our hand. Right now, also my technology is – I will vote for it, that it is one of the best technology which is available in the market. So as far as readiness is concerned, I don’t have an issue about it.
Q: When we spoke to PTC, they indicated that HPX is contributing around ₹10 crores to them. The more focus on PTC also, because it’s a listed stock, so the shareholders would be very interested in that. If and when you achieve 33% market share, how much more will you be able to contribute to PTC in terms of financials?
A: That again, depends upon what market we are going to have and what dynamics we will be seeing in the future. But ultimately, the growth of HPX will certainly result into growth of PTC, because PTC is having almost 23% share in the exchange.
Q: We understand that there are certain restriction as far as ownership of platforms and exchanges are concerned from the promoters. We understand that there is a 5% upper limit, so lot of your promoters own in excess of 20% would that need to come down? And the second question is, do you feel that IEX can now take this particular or can challenge this particular order from the CERC? Do they have any legal recourse?
A: That I would not like to comment, because this order has come just last evening, and we are in the process of meeting stakeholders. As far as IEX is concerned, because it is for them to decide what they would like to do. But as per the power market regulations, any entity, any trader, which is having more than 5% share in the power exchange, they cannot trade.
Read Here | Stock Crash: IEX shares tank 28% after market coupling approval; 5.1 crore sell orders pending
