MHI Gets 22 Bids for 10 GWh Battery Cell Capacity

The Ministry of Heavy Industries has received 22 bids for the 10 GWh of Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) manufacturing capacity it put out through a global tender. The capacity is reserved for Grid-Scale Stationary Storage, the kind of large battery bank that holds power from solar and wind farms until the grid needs it, and the ministry reads the response as evidence that industry now sees money in building cells inside India.

How the tender ran

The Request for Proposal went up on the Central Public Procurement Portal on 15 July 2026, and the pre-bid conference followed on 29 July 2026. Bidding closed on 10 November 2026, and the technical bids were opened the next day at the ministry in the presence of the bidders. Selection is online and follows a two-stage Quality and Cost Based Selection route, so price alone will not decide who wins.

Where the 10 GWh fits

This block of capacity is one slice of the larger target of 50 GWh set under the National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell Battery Storage. The Union Cabinet cleared the production-linked incentive scheme for that programme in May 2021 with a budget of Rs 18,100 crore, the aim being to draw big Indian and foreign manufacturers into a cell-making ecosystem that can compete globally. Officials link the push to energy security, to a deeper domestic value chain for battery technology, and to the Viksit Bharat @2047 goal.

Some of the bidders

• Reliance Industries, JSW Neo Energy, Exide Energy Solutions and Amara Raja Advanced Cell Technologies.
• ACME Solar Holdings, Avaada Electro, ReNew Photovoltaics, Vikram Solar and Waaree Energy Storage Solutions.
• Megha Engineering and Infrastructures, Shirdi Sai Electricals, Godawari New Energy and Fujiyama Power Systems.

Storage capacity of this sort matters more each year as India adds renewable generation, because solar and wind output rises and falls with the weather while demand does not.