ASHVINI Floats ₹28,000 Crore Nuclear Island EPC Tender for Mahi Banswara Atomic Power Project in Rajasthan
Anushakti Vidhyut Nigam Limited (ASHVINI), a subsidiary of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and a joint venture between NPCIL and NTPC Limited, has invited bids for the Nuclear Island Mega EPC Package (NIMEP) for Units 1–4 of the Mahi Banswara Rajasthan Atomic Power Project (MBRAPP). Valued at more than ₹28,000 crore, this is the largest Nuclear Island EPC package ever floated under India's indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) programme.
The package covers engineering, manufacturing, supply, civil construction, installation, testing and commissioning assistance for critical nuclear island systems across four PHWR units of 700 MWe capacity each, for a total installed capacity of 2,800 MW. The reactors are based on indigenously developed IPHWR-700 technology.
The Mahi Banswara plant is being built on a 1,366.49-acre site near the Mahi Bajaj Sagar Dam in Banswara district, Rajasthan, with cooling drawn from the Mahi River. The broader project, with an overall construction cost estimated at around ₹50,000 crore, will notably be India's first nuclear power plant not fully owned by NPCIL, reflecting the government's strategy to broaden participation in the country's nuclear sector through the NPCIL-NTPC joint venture structure.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the project at Napla near the Mahi Dam in September 2025, as part of a broader package of infrastructure investments announced for Rajasthan. The upcoming nuclear island tender is expected to attract major domestic infrastructure and engineering companies and forms part of India's broader plan to scale nuclear power capacity to 22 GW by 2032 as it works to expand clean energy generation and reduce carbon emissions.