Megha Engineering receives India’s first private sector nuclear power order

Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Ltd. (MEIL) has received a Rs 12,800 crore order from Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) to construct two 700 Megawatt (MW) nuclear reactors—Kaiga Units 5 & 6—in Karnataka.

Bids were opened in June 2024 with MEIL outbidding peers to emerge as the lowest bidder. Sector watchers said this is the biggest-ever order placed by NPCIL and the first to the private sector. MEIL said this is the company’s first step into the nuclear energy sector.

NPCIL used the Quality-cum-Cost-Based Selection (QCBS) method for awarding this project. With this, MEIL’s presence spreads across power, water, hydrocarbons, irrigation, oil and rigs, defence, transport, compressed gas distribution, electric mobility—and now, nuclear energy.