Reliance Power shares drop 5% after 3-year SECI tender ban over alleged fake documents

New Delhi: Shares of Reliance Power Ltd fell by 5 per cent on Friday as the company and Reliance NU BESS Ltd have been debarred from participating in Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI) tenders for three years for allegedly submitting "fake documents".

The stock tanked 4.99 per cent to Rs 41.47 -- its lower circuit limit -- on the BSE.

On the NSE, shares of the firm dropped 5 per cent to hit the lowest trading permissible limit for the day at Rs 41.58.

In a note, SECI said, "Based on the examination of documents submitted by Maharashtra Energy Generation, now known as Reliance NU BESS (for a project), it was discovered that as per the tender requirements, the endorsement of the Bank Guarantee against EMD (issued by a foreign Bank), as submitted by the Bidder, was fake." The issue is related to the RfS issued by SECI for setting up 1000 MW/2000 MWh Standalone BESS Projects under tariff-based competitive bidding.

Since the above discrepancy was discovered subsequent to the e-reverse auction, SECI was constrained to annul the tendering process.

SECI said it has debarred Reliance Power and Reliance NU BESS from participating in tenders issued for a period of three years.

As per the tender conditions, the above submission of a fake document as part of its response to RfS rendered the bidder eligible for debarment from future tenders issued by SECI.