Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has adopted and approved the annual transmission charges (tariff) associated with an ISTS-TBCB scheme housed under “Raghanesda RE Transmission Ltd,” a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dineshchandra R. Agrawal Infracon Pvt Ltd (DRAIPL).
In a very recent order, CERC adopted the tariff of Rs.2,328.71 million per year that will remain fixed for the entire period envisaged in the transmission service agreement.
The tariff adoption by CERC is subject to the project SPV securing transmission licence, which is currently in process. CERC, in its order dated September 30, 2025, had granted interim transmission licence and the hearing for the final licence is expected to take place soon.
The project
The ISTS-TBCB scheme is termed as “Transmission system for evacuation of power from Raghanesda area of Gujarat – 3 GW (Phase I)” and is scheduled to commission by October 2027.
With an estimated cost of Rs.2,102 crore, this Gujarat-centric scheme involves putting up a new 765/400kV, 4×1500 MVA GIS substation at Raghanesda and a 765kV double-circuit line of around 155 ckm, connecting this substation to PGCIL’s Banaskantha substation.
According to official information, survey work for the transmission line was underway and orders for the GIS equipment were placed, as of September 2025.
Bidding process
DRAIPL won the Raghanesda scheme under the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) mechanism. The project SPV ” Raghanesda RE Transmission Ltd” was formally acquired by DRAIPL on July 23, 2025 from bid process coordinator PFC Consulting Ltd.
The bidding process of this scheme had some striking features. Based on technical qualifications, eight bidders were found eligible for opening of initial price bids. These included three seasoned players – Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL), Resonia Ltd and Adani Energy Solutions Ltd (AESL). New developers like Torrent Power and Reliance Industries were also in the fray, alongside new aspirants like KCC Buildcon and Kalthia Engineering. [Read tndindia.com story dated June 9, 2025 for more details.]
However, none of the top three bidders mentioned above make it to the e-reverse auction (e-RA) stage, leaving the race limited to four players – DRAIPL, KCC Buildcon, Reliance Industries and Torrent Power. It may be noted that qualification to the e-reverse auction is based on rankings of initial price bids, and is limited to a maximum of four bidders.
Interestingly, KCC Buildcon with a quote of Rs.2,782 million was L1 based on initial price bids whereas the final winner DRAIPL was placed L2 with a quote of Rs.2,880 million. During the 71 rounds of bidding of the keenly-contested e-RA, DRAIPL lowered its original quote by a significant 19 per cent to reach the final winning bid of Rs.2,328.71 million.
Second ISTS-TBCB project for DRAIPL
The Raghanesda scheme discussed in this story represents the second ISTS-TBCB scheme for Gujarat-based Dineschandra R. Agrawal Infracon Pvt Ltd (DRAIPL) that debuted in this space by winning “Rajasthan IV 4B Power Transmission Ltd” in December 2024. The Rajasthan IV 4B scheme, a large project with with an estimated cost of over Rs.6,300 crore, entails putting up around 1,300 ckm of transmission lines and 5,500 MVA of transformation capacity. The project is currently under execution with completion anticipated by December 2026.
Featured photograph (source: MPPTCL) is for representation only