VRS for MTNL employees on cards -Governance Now

VRS for MTNL employees on cards

The public sector telecom firm has been posting losses since 2009

GN Bureau | November 7, 2016

#communication ministry #cabinet #PK Purwar #DoT #VRS #MTNL

The ministry of communication may soon seek cabinet approval to offer a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to state-run telecom operator Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL).

The VRS amounting to Rs 1,000 crore will help the company to cut down high staff cost. About 5,000 employees of MTNL will take VRS, which is about 18% of total employee base. The proposal has already been approved by the telecom commission, the highest policymaking body of the department of telecommunications (DoT).

MTNL, which offers telecom services only in Delhi and Mumbai, has been struggling to survive in a highly competitive market. It plans to invest Rs 2,500 crore over next two-three years to expand and upgrade its network.

The development comes days after P.K. Purwar was appointed as the chairman and managing director (CMD) of MTNL for five years. He was earlier holding the additional charge. Once VRS is implemented, it could save Rs 400-500 crore every year for MTNL and free up certain resources for making more investments in the network, according to the news report published in VCCircle.com.

In July, after a gap of more than two years, the government had started the process to select CMD for MTNL. The company had been without a full-time CMD since May 30, 2014, when A.K. Garg retired from the post.

The public sector telecom firm has been posting losses since 2009-10. For the June quarter this year, it posted a loss of Rs 718.02 crore compared with Rs 734.24 crore in the same period last year. The total income declined by 4.5% to Rs 744.72 crore this June quarter from Rs 780.12 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

Comments

Other News

The missing men in India`s family planning story

Every pregnancy requires two people. Yet India`s family planning programme continues to ask only one of them to bear almost all of its medical consequences. The newly released National Family Health Survey-6 (2023-24) confirms just how entrenched this asymmetry remains: 36.5% of currently married women a

`Development must be judged beyond GDP, with rights and justice at core`

Delivering the IXth Chief Justice M.C. Chagla Memorial Lecture on ‘Human Rights and Sustainable Development Goals’, in Mumbai Friday, former Chief Justice of India Bhushan R. Gavai questioned whether conventional economic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP), national income,

RTI exposes Rs 16,909 crore cost blowout on Mumbai-Goa Highway

Seventeen years after the centre first approved the widening of National Highway 66 between Mumbai and Goa into a four-lane highway, a fresh RTI reply has revealed a sharp escalation in the project`s sanctioned cost. According to the RTI reply obtained by activist Jeetendra

"India`s semiconductor ecosystem is expanding rapidly"

Prime minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated SEMICON India 2026 in New Delhi. Addressing the occasion and highlighting the significance of the event`s fifth edition, the PM drew a parallel between the launch of Semicon India and Vishwakarma Diwas. He pointed out the beautiful coincidence of

Cabinet approves raising EPFO wage ceiling from Rs.15,000 p.m. to Rs.25,000

The union cabinet, chaired by the prime minister, has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Labour & Employment to enhance the wage ceiling for mandatory coverage under the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) from Rs.15,000 to Rs.25,000 per month. The decision is expected to bring

UPI continues to remain free for peer-to-peer transactions: Finance Ministry

The new UPI framework introduced has no impact on any person to person transactions, and UPI will continue to remain completely free for all person-to-person transactions, irrespective of the amount transferred, the finance ministry clarified on Tuesday. Payments to merchan