The Adani group had thrown its hat into a bidding process for a Bengal government-sponsored power project, renewing the conglomerate’s ties with the state where it had won the contract for the Tajpur port development last year.

The Adani group was among a clutch of five entities, which included Sajjan Jindal’s JSW group, which participated in the pre-bid meeting for the 900-megawatt Bandu pumped storage project. The Mamata Banerjee government has floated a tender for the selection of a developer of the renewable energy venture which entails an investment of Rs 6,500 crore.

Apart from Adani and JSW, other bidders that joined the pre-bid meeting were Greenko, India Power and Andritz Hydro. The last date for submitting the price bid was fixed in the middle of April. However, the deadline may be deferred by a month, allowing prospective bidders to visit the site in the Ayodhya Hill area, Purulia and carry out a detailed due diligence.

The government plans to pre-qualify and shortlist players whose financial bids would be opened for awarding the project on a competitive bidding process. The public-private partnership project is being taken up on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis.

Appearance in a pre-bid meeting does not always translate into participation in the final bid but it does indicate interest in a particular project. In the present context, Adani’s overture assumes significance on multiple levels.

After the conglomerate, which has business interests across ports, airports, mining, power (both traditional as well as renewable) cement, foods and technology to name a few, plunged into a crisis when the US research firm Hindenburg accused it of financial fraud and stock market manipulation, the Mamata Banerjee government appeared to have distanced itself from the embattled group.

The Tajpur project did not find any mention in the budget presented by state finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya on February 15, even though the government had handed over the letter of award for the project to Karan Adani, son of founder Gautam Adani, only three months before it.

However, at the meeting of the West Bengal Industrial Promotion Board in Nabanna chaired by chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday, a government official mentioned that the Tajpurport is coming up in the state.

Moreover, many corporate observers had predicted that Adani Group would tread cautiously going forward, focusing on existing businesses rather than taking up new ones, assuming headwinds in securing finance amidst the raging controversy.

The group’s presence in the pre-bid meeting indicated that it is still willing to court new ventures despite pressure exerted from the crash of its shares after publication of Hindenburg report on January 24.