The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has directed the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), NTPC, NHPC and other state-owned organisations to reduce the performance security deposit of renewable energy contracts from 5-10 per cent to 3 per cent of the contracted value. The order applies to all the existing tenders or contracts concluded until December 31, 2021. The reduced percentage shall not increase beyond this date. Further, in the case of abnormally low bids, the provisions required earlier for bid security and additional security deposits have been removed as per the MNRE’s order. Now, only the bid security declaration provisions are to be mentioned in future bid documents.