New Delhi, July 30 -- The race to secure the final tranche of incentives under India's advanced battery manufacturing programme is gathering pace, with Exide Industries, Amara Raja Energy & Mobility and Waaree Group among likely bidders for the government's 10 gigawatt-hour (GWh) grid-scale energy storage tender, according to two people aware of the development.

The tender has been floated under the Rs.18,100-crore production-linked incentive PLI scheme for advanced chemical cells (PLI ACC)

These companies were present at the pre-bid conference on Wednesday, signalling their interest in the tender. The companies and the ministry of heavy industries, which administers the PLI ACC scheme, did not immediately respond to Mint's emailed queries.

The much-awaited tender was floated on 15 July, with the previous one brought out in September 2024 that awarded 10 GWh capacity to Reliance Industries Ltd.

"The conference held today i.e. July 29, 2026, witnessed active participation from 29 prospective bidders, industry stakeholders, government ministries including NITI Aayog, MNRE and ministry of power and industry associations," the ministry of heavy industries said in a statement on Wednesday.

Mint had reported on 19 July that the government had reduced the lowest possible bid to 1 GWh capacity in this latest tender, down from the minimum 4 GWh in the previous tenders under the scheme.

The new and renewable energy ministry, in a written response to Mint's queries, had also said that the subsidy for energy storage had been reduced to Rs.1,500 per kilowatt-hour (KWh) in this tender from Rs.2,000 in the previous tenders, as battery prices had fallen over the years.

For the latest tender, a bidder must submit a technical as well as a financial bid. The technical bid would cover 80% of the total assessment weight, while financial would cover the remaining 20%.

Of the technical bid, 70% of the evaluation will be based on the domestic value-addition plan of the bidder, while the remaining will be based on the bidder's committed capacity.

"The challenge with using domestic value-addition, or localization, as a criterion is that India currently lacks locally-manufactured materials that meet battery-grade standards. In the 2021 tender, a bidder's prior experience in battery manufacturing was not taken into consideration, which raised significant concerns. However, this aspect remains unchanged in the new tender," said Reji Kumar Pillai, president of the India Smart Grid Forum, a power ministry-backed think tank.

"Another factor is that with the bid capacity criteria of 1-4 GWh, there is a chance that only three or four companies may get the full 10 GWh capacity. This number should be 6-8 companies," Pillai added.

Bidding for the 10 GWh tender will close on 13 October 2026, and bids will be opened a day later.

The PLI ACC scheme was approved by the Union Cabinet in 2021, with an aim to build a domestic energy storage capacity of 50 GWh.

In the first round of bidding in 2022, the government allocated 20 GWh capacity to Ola Electric, 5 GWh to Reliance New Energy, another 5 GWh to Rajesh Exports, and 20 GWh to a company called Hyundai Global Motors.

The capacity allocated to Hyundai Global Motors was rescinded after the Korean automaker announced that this company had no relationship with Hyundai or its Indian arm Hyundai Motor India. Rajesh Exports is also under fire as the Securities and Exchange Board of India had in a June ex-parte interim order said that Rajesh Exports had misrepresented revenue over Rs.15 lakh crore during FY21-FY25.

In 2024, Reliance Industries was awarded a further 10 GWh capacity. The remaining 10 GWh capacity was earmarked for grid-scale storage, meaning energy stored would be used in the power grid.

Energy storage services are crucial to the global energy transition as they balance supply and demand by capturing excess clean energy from wind and solar during peak production and discharging it during low-generation periods. Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from MINT. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at [email protected]