India's renewable energy market is growing rapidly due to the national government's goals and increasing development of solar parks, wind parks, hybrid RE systems, BESS (Battery Energy Storage Systems), and green hydrogen initiatives. Government-led competitive tenders serve as the primary mechanism for obtaining access to the growing renewable energy opportunity development; however, the process of participating in these tenders has been significantly enhanced through the development of tender submission capabilities. As sourcing norms tighten and project complexities increase, success now depends on strong technical credentials, precise and complete documentation, established OEM partnerships, and pricing aligned with current market realities. The majority of bid disqualifications are caused by incomplete tender submissions (i.e., outdated certification documents), missing approvals, and a lack of compliance documentation, increasing the need for bidders to submit their tender applications to demonstrate their capability to compete successfully in the ever-changing renewable energy competitive tender market.
Tender Trends in 2025
Bids are currently being rejected in a large proportion due to submission errors related to the financial certificate, OEM approval documents, and the submission of incomplete compliance documentation. As a result, document accuracy will likely play a major role in determining the number of accepted bids during the year 2025. It is anticipated that the opportunity for hybrid and battery energy storage technologies will increase with increased procurement efforts. Additionally, procuring entities are focusing their efforts on reliability and project readiness as well as partnering with technology partners in conjunction with procuring their supply chain partners.
What Winning Bidders in 2025 Do Differently
Winning bids will be provided by bidders who meet the proven execution capability and operational readiness, understanding of rapid mobilization capabilities, submission of high-quality technical bids with the necessary documentation in compliance with all requirements, and quoting prices that are realistic in reference to current market pricing in addition to having the necessary credentials to substantiate those prices. The transition to a quality-based scoring system indicates that bidders can no longer rely on underbidding due to a lack of execution capability, as the scoring agencies will prioritize credentials and past performance over the price quoted.
Evaluation Trends Shaping 2025
QCBS evaluation is increasingly being used for BESS, hybrid, and hydrogen-based tenders. Technical scoring has remained a significant factor in the evaluation of these projects. Additionally, the inclusion of ESG practice elements such as sustainability reports and safety compliance is now commonplace. The majority of the winning bid prices fall into a very close range of competition; this further demonstrates how critical data-based price strategies are becoming.
How Companies Should Prepare for 2026
As the sector moves toward 2026, sourcing is becoming increasingly capability-driven. To effectively compete in this market, organizations are required to establish and maintain digital compliance folders that have real-time updates, utilize AI-assisted pricing/margin-intelligence solutions when conducting a tender and will need to foster closer partnerships with OEMs and Technology Providers. A trend toward joint-venture types of major tenders will continue, as this allows bidders to jointly fulfill eligibility requirements and present together their combined technical experience. Actively participating in pre-tender meetings will continue to be an integral aspect of the bid process, as many of the eligibility requirements and technical requirements will arise as a result of the bidder input process. Candidates are expected to have a higher rate of procurement activity in 2026 for battery energy storage systems; clean hydrogen-generation systems; pumped storage power plants; hybrid EPC packages; and large-scale transmission expansion, which aligns with the Indian government's push for 24×7 renewable power and its long-term energy-transition goals. Therefore, candidates that successfully bring together a proven execution capability, ESG compliance, advanced integration of technology, and highly detailed tender documentation will be the ones best positioned to capture the next wave of tenders.
