Tamil Nadu has introduced a fresh set of tender guidelines aimed at breaking up cartelisation among contractors and widening access to government works for young entrepreneurs, women and members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the Times of India reported.
Under the new framework, individuals from these groups will be permitted to bid for rural tenders worth up to Rs 10 lakh even without prior experience in contracting, according to the report.
The rules, titled the "New Contractor Registration Framework 2026," were reportedly released by rural development minister N. Anand on Wednesday.
Unemployed engineers, women running sole proprietorship firms, and SC and ST groups will be eligible to bid for tenders with a minimum registration deposit of ₹20,000, and will be exempt from income tax and GST, the report said.
To retain the concession, beneficiaries must submit an unemployment certificate from their district employment office every six months, with the benefit capped at a single, three-year window, the outlet reported.
Tenders exceeding Rs 2 crore will not require registration under the scheme, with bidders for such projects classified as top-tier contractors, the report said.
The rural development department, which oversees village panchayats and manages an annual budget of around Rs 29,000 crore for civic projects, issued the new guidelines as its final governing framework, replacing two earlier government orders from 2024 and 2025, according to the TOI.
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To stop contractors from overextending themselves across multiple projects, the department has introduced a "50 times rule" linking registration deposits to eligible work volume, meaning a contractor with a ₹20,000 deposit can take on work worth up to Rs 10 lakh, the report said.
The state has also scrapped state-level registrations, requiring contractors to register within their home district and restricting their participation to tenders in that district and neighbouring ones, according to the Times of India.
An unnamed official quoted in the report said the move was designed to give smaller firms and individuals in every district a chance at small-scale works, with quality to be monitored by district officials, while larger projects above Rs 2 crore would remain open to contractors from any part of the state.
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