SECI bars Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power for 3 years over fake bank guarantee

The debarment comes in the wake of Reliance NU BESS submitting bank guarantee documents in the bidding round for setting up a 1000MW standalone battery energy storage systems project.

“Based on the examination of documents submitted by Maharashtra Energy Generation Limited (the “Bidder”), now known as Reliance NU BESS…it was discovered that as per the tender requirements, the endorsement of the bank guarantee against earnest money deposit (issued by a foreign bank), as submitted by the Bidder, was fake,” SECI stated.

Since Reliance NU BESS is a subsidiary of Reliance Power Ltd and submitted the financial qualification requirements based on the strength of its parent company, the debarment was extended to Reliance Power Ltd.

“Upon detailed examination of the matter, it was found logical to conclude that all the commercial and strategic decisions undertaken by the Bidder were fundamentally driven by the parent company,” the release said.

As of November 6, Reliance Power Ltd and its subsidiaries stand ineligible to participate in any future tenders issued by SECI for three years.

SECI, due to the debacle, had to cancel the tender proceedings at an advanced stage.

The shares of Reliance Power Ltd were trading in the green at ₹45.19, up 3.67% (+ ₹1.06) at 2:05 pm on the NSE on Thursday, November 7 after the company revealed that its arm Rosa Power Supply Company paid back ₹458 crore to lender Vadre Partners and achieved the status of a zero-debt company.