₹5,675 Cr to ₹56.75 Cr: Adani's 1,500 MW Tarali Project Cost Cut by 99%, Probe Ordered

Adani Green Energy’s proposed 1,500 MW Tarali Pumped Storage Project in Maharashtra’s Satara district has become the centre of a striking numbers gap. A project cleared at ₹5,675 crore is now described in an affidavit as costing just ₹56.75 crore, a 100-fold drop.

The change matters well beyond the headline figure. The Maharashtra State Board for Wildlife had asked the company to contribute 4 per cent of the project cost towards conservation. On the original estimate, that came to ₹227 crore. On the revised figure, it falls to just ₹2.27 crore.

The revision came in an affidavit filed in September 2026 by Adani Green’s Chief Operating Officer, Naresh Telgu, who said the earlier figure was based on an “analogous estimation”. The state forest department subsequently accepted the new number for calculating the contribution. The company has deposited ₹56.75 lakh, which is 1 per cent of the revised amount, while the remaining 3 per cent is linked to approval from the National Board for Wildlife.

A comparison with a similar project sharpens the picture. JSW Energy’s 1,500 MW Bhavali Pumped Storage Project, also in Maharashtra and still under development, was first estimated at ₹5,723.30 crore, strikingly close to Tarali’s original figure. Its later filings put the estimated cost at ₹9,058.09 crore, or about ₹6.04 crore per MW. Tarali’s revised figure works out to roughly ₹3.78 lakh per MW. The Central Electricity Authority’s planning assumptions for pumped storage run between ₹3 crore and ₹8 crore per MW.

Project costs vary based on infrastructure, and Tarali benefits from an existing lower reservoir. However, its revised estimate remains unusually low compared with similar projects. All figures are estimates, not audited expenditure.

The matter has also triggered political criticism. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh described the reported 99 per cent cost reduction as a “scandal of gigantic proportions” and accused the Modi government of allowing the Adani Group to expand without adequate scrutiny. He renewed the party’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the group's operations.

Following a complaint by Satara honorary wildlife warden Rohan Bhate, the state forest department began an inquiry. The Union Environment Ministry has also directed the state to investigate the matter on priority.