Multi Commodity Exchange of India announced the launch of the Electricity Futures Contract, effective from Thursday, 10 July 2025, marking a significant milestone in the development of the country's energy derivatives market.
MCX believes this launch is timely, as the electricity sector is witnessing significant growth with a need to manage price stability, fluctuating demand, fuel costs, and market developments. The Electricity Futures contract will help power generators, distribution companies, large industrial consumers, and financial participants with a transparent, liquid, and reliable hedging mechanism. It will also promote investors with a widely used commodity to add to their portfolio.
The new Electricity Futures Contract aims to meet the growing demand for structured electricity price risk management instruments. The contract will be available for all 12 calendar months of the year, with trading initially open for the current and next three months. The trading unit is 50 MWh, quoted in Indian Rupees per MWh (excluding taxes and levies), with a tick size of ₹1 per MWh. The contract will be cash settled based on the Volume Weighted Average of the Unconstrained Market Clearing Price (UMCP) of the Day Ahead Market (DAM) at the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) for all calendar days in the expiry month.
The contract will follow SEBI's Daily Price Limits (DPL) for market stability, with an initial slab of 6%, extendable up to 9% on a given day. The initial margin requirement is a minimum of 10% or volatility VaR based margins, whichever is higher. Client level position limits are capped at 3 lakh MWh or 5% of the market-wide open interest whichever is higher.