The Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has issued a three-year ban on Anil Ambani’s Reliance Power, prohibiting the company and its subsidiaries from participating in any of SECI’s future tenders. This decision was based on irregularities found in a recent bid submission by Reliance NU BESS Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Power. SECI’s official notice states that both Reliance NU BESS Limited and Reliance Power Limited (along with all subsidiaries) are debarred until three years from the date of issuance of the notice.
The issue arose in June, when SECI invited bids for a large-scale solar and energy storage project, including a 1-gigawatt solar power project and a 2-gigawatt standalone battery energy storage system. However, the bidding process was cancelled after SECI identified discrepancies in the documentation provided by Reliance NU BESS Ltd, specifically with a foreign bank guarantee intended to support the bid.
Reliance NU BESS Ltd had submitted this foreign bank guarantee along with an email that purportedly came from the State Bank of India (SBI) as validation. However, an investigation by SECI revealed that the bank guarantee endorsement was fraudulent, as SBI had not issued any such support letter, and the email address used to send the message was confirmed to be fake.
Following this discovery, SECI found it necessary to impose the ban, effectively preventing Reliance Power from engaging in SECI-led projects for the next three years. This action underscores SECI’s commitment to transparency and integrity in its bidding processes and serves as a warning against fraudulent practices in public tenders.
