BSNL clears Rs 1,700 crore in dues to vendors; pays November salaries: CMD

The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved a plan to combine Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has cleared Rs 1,700 crore of vendors dues, its CMD P K Purwar said on Monday. The corporation has also made salary payment to its employees for November, Purwar added. “Payments worth Rs 1,700 crore have been released to our vendors and contractors of BSNL,” he said.

Overall, the outstanding to creditors is Rs 10,000 crore, he added. “Employee salaries for November too have been released,” he said adding that monthly wage cost stood at about Rs 800 crore.

In October this year, the government approved a Rs 69,000 crore revival package for BSNL and MTNL that includes merging the two loss-making firms, monetising their assets and giving VRS to employees so that the combined entity turns profitable in two years.

The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved a plan to combine Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd – which provides services in Mumbai and New Delhi – with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd that services the rest of the nation.

Over the last few weeks both the companies launched theirs VRS plans and thousands of employees of BSNL and MTNL have opted for voluntary retirement, which is expected to save about Rs 8,800 crore annually in salary bills for the debt-laden telecom companies.

The two firms will also monetise assets worth Rs 37,500 crore in the next three years. MTNL has reported losses in nine of the past 10 years and BSNL too has been ringing in loss since 2010.