MHI’s Large-Scale Battery Tender to Drive Investment in India’s BESS Ecosystem.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) recently invited global bids to set up 10 GWh of advanced chemistry cell (ACC) manufacturing capacity exclusively for grid-scale stationary storage systems (GSSS) under the government’s ₹18,100-crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

The tender marks the allocation of the final 20% capacity under India’s 50 GWh ACC battery manufacturing programme towards the power sector, with the objective of reducing dependence on imported battery cells and strengthening the domestic battery energy storage systems (BESS) ecosystem.

Tender documents were made available on July 15, with a pre-bid conference scheduled for July 29. The deadline for submitting bids is October 13, while technical bids will be opened on October 14. The selection process will follow a two-stage quality and cost-based selection (QCBS) framework.

Industry experts said the tender comes amid a broader push to improve the viability of domestic battery manufacturing, supported by policy measures such as customs-duty relief on battery manufacturing equipment.

The combination of incentives under the ACC PLI scheme and recent policy support is expected to improve the investment case for setting up gigafactories focused on grid-scale battery cells. However, the long-term cost competitiveness of domestic manufacturing will depend on factors such as localisation levels, production scale and execution capabilities.