Monthly electricity futures make strong debut on NSE

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) successfully launched its Monthly Electricity Futures (ELECMBL) contracts on 14 July 2025, recording a total turnover of Rs 177.24 crore by the end of the first trading day. More than 8,100 contracts were traded, reflecting strong early interest in India’s newest power market instrument.

By 2:00 PM on Monday, over 4,000 lots had already been traded, representing more than 200 million units of electricity. The volume-weighted average price stood at Rs 4,368 per megawatt-hour (MWh), according to NSE’s press release. The first trade opened at Rs 4,430/MWh, and by afternoon, prices hovered around Rs 4,364/MWh.

The contracts saw participation from power generators, distribution companies (discoms), large industrial consumers, and market intermediaries. By 7:03 PM, the 50 MWh contract was trading at Rs 4,365. This was higher than the Rs 4,249.16/MWh spot price, indicating clear demand from hedgers.

Ashishkumar Chauhan, Managing Director and CEO of NSE, said at the launch that the exchange will gradually introduce longer-duration electricity derivatives, including quarterly and annual contracts. Speaking to the media, Sriram Krishnan, NSE’s Chief Business Development Officer, added that offering electricity futures alongside other asset classes on a single platform would improve operational efficiency and margin usage.

The Financial Express noted that Monday’s NSE volumes exceeded those seen in recent sessions on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), which began electricity futures trading last week. On 10 July, MCX saw 2,606 contracts worth Rs 57.52 crore, while on 11 July, 1,633 contracts were traded for Rs 36.41 crore. MCX’s Monday data was not available at the time of reporting.

To support the product’s rollout, NSE had earlier introduced a liquidity enhancement scheme (LES), effective from 11 July 2025. The LES aims to deepen the market and attract sustained participation from a broad range of users.

While both NSE and MCX have indicated that electricity futures will not immediately contribute significantly to revenues, the near-term focus remains on ecosystem development and user adoption.