Paving the way for establishing coal exchanges in the country, the government on Tuesday (June 9, 2026) published the Coal Exchange Rules (2026) – formally putting down rules and eligibility criteria for operating and instituting the exchange.

Prominently among them are statutory regulations about payment and settlement of contracts, minimum eligibility requirements to be met for an entity to establish the exchange and its governance structure, among other things.

The Coal Ministry, in a statement, held that the coal exchange would mark a “paradigm shift” in coal marketing by enabling multiple sales channels, that is, from ‘one-to-many’ to ‘many-to-many’.

“This will enable transparent and market-driven price discovery, improve efficiency, and provide coal producers, including commercial and captive miners, with easier access to a wider pool of buyers,” the statement read.

The published rules outline that an applicant seeking to establish a coal exchange must have a net worth of “not less than fifty crore rupees”.

Further, they must adhere to being ‘demutualised’, that is, the ownership and management do not hold any trading rights in the exchange.

As the settlement of contracts, the rules put forth that the final price of the traded coal be adjusted in accordance with the quality of coal being traded, which shall be assessed by any coal sampling agency recognised by the Coal Controller Organisation (CCO).

The Coal Ministry had appointed CCO as the authority to register and regulate the exchanges on December 11, 2025.

It was entrusted with registering and revoking registrations, market oversight and surveillance over the activities of exchanges, notifying guidelines and procedures for settling disputes and placing grievances, among other things.

Progressing further towards establishing the proposed coal exchange, the Central Government vide a gazette notification Thursday (December 11) appointed Coal Controller Organisation (CCO) as the authority to register and regulate the proposed coal exchanges.

The Coal Ministry had proposed appointing CCO as the regulator for the proposed coal exchange in September this year. The draft legislation had entrusted CCO with registering and revoking registrations, notifying fees and other charges necessary for exchange operations, market oversight and surveillance over the activities of exchanges, notifying guidelines and procedure for settling disputes and placing grievances, among other things.

The idea of setting up a coal exchange is premised around an increased availability of coal in the country. The coal ministry believes the mechanism would help address the surplus coal scenario by expanding further the existing channels for selling coal. Thus, also instituting an additional competitive market for its sale. In FY 2024-25, India produced 1.05 billion tonnes of coal. According to government estimates, domestic coal production is expected to increase 6-7% annually in the coming years to scale an annual production of 1.5 billion tonne by 2029-30.