National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday, April 1, announced a collaboration with Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) to introduce exchange-traded derivatives based on natural gas traded and delivered on the IGX platform.
As part of this collaboration, NSE will launch Indian natural gas derivative contracts based on IGX’s benchmark Price Index GIXI (Gas IndeX of India). The contracts will be designed to reflect domestic gas market dynamics, with pricing linked to actual trades on the IGX platform, the exchange said in a press release.
The exchange back in January had said that it was in talks with IGX on collaboration for developing an Indian Natural Gas Futures contract.
As per the press release, NSE has received approval from the capital markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to launch the Indian Natural Gas Futures. The launch dates for the same will be communicated at a later date.
According to a report in The Hindu, the Mumbai-based exchange had received the said approval from Sebi to launch these contracts in February 2026. Furthermore, the report stated that NSE India Natural Gas futures would be monthly contracts, with 12 monthly contracts available for trading at any point in time.
Impact of natural gas contracts
The move comes at a time when the natural gas and crude oil prices are swinging sharply on the back of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and fears around supply disruption through the Strait of Hormuz. The move is aimed at strengthening India’s domestic natural gas market and providing efficient risk management tools, according to NSE.
These contracts are expected to benefit gas producers, city gas distribution companies, power generators, fertiliser manufacturers, industrial consumers, traders and financial participants by enabling effective hedging against price volatility and improving long-term planning.
They also provide the financial institutions, exchange-registered brokers and investors with an investment tool to invest in the domestic natural gas market derivatives.
