A new ore-der: Can India’s Mineral Exchanges fix the price game?

In less than 14 months, an idea to bring India’s fragmented market onto a common electronic platform germinated from legislative intent to a formal regulatory framework and, finally, setting the stage for establishing mineral exchanges.

The proposed exchanges cobbled an ambitious plan, ensuring a transparent marketplace where representative prices reflect demand and supply rather than relying on fragmented negotiations and auctions.

India’s mining sector has historically faced challenges on price transparency, fragmented markets and information asymmetry.

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Seeking to effectively address the issues in the sector in a holistic way, the latest institutional reforms may result in the enhanced industrial competitiveness, investment flows and supply-chain resilience.

The proposed exchange framework will spell out how miners sell output, how manufacturers procure raw materials and how India establishes credible domestic reference prices for industrial minerals.

The move comes at a time when minerals are fast turning crucial to the country’s economic security and also when India is increasingly focusing on infrastructure, renewable energy, electric vehicles, defence equipment, advanced manufacturing and clean energy.

Power trading solutions provider PTC India this week said its board has approved incorporation of a wholly-owned subsidiary with an investment of ₹65 crore to set up and operate a mineral exchange. MCXI (Multi Commodity Exchange of India) has established MCX Mineral Exchange of India Limited as a wholly owned subsidiary.

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Origins of mineral exchange

The amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act provided the legal bedrock for the exchange, paving way for coal exchanges, marking a paradigm shift in marketing by moving from the traditional “one-to-many” sales model to a competitive “many-to-many” trading platform.

Section 18B of the MMDR Act provides for promoting markets, including trading of minerals through mineral exchanges.

The Ministry of Mines subsequently framed the Mineral Exchange Rules, 2026. The regulatory responsibility will rest with the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) under the Ministry of Mines. The government has designated IBM as the authority to register and regulate mineral exchanges for minerals other than coal, lignite and atomic minerals.