No plan to disinvest stake in BSNL and MTNL

GN Bureau | December 7, 2015


#BSNL   #MTNL   #PSU   #telecom   #Ravi Shankar Prasad  


Government has no proposal to disinvest stake in BSNL and MTNL as part of their revival strategy.

To a question whether the government has any proposal to disinvest BSNL and MTNL as part of their revival strategy, telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad replied in the negative in a written reply in the Lok Sabha and said every attempt with effective monitoring is being undertaken to revive the two companies. They will be made competitive he said.

"The results are positive. There is no proposal to disinvest them as part of revival plan," Prasad said.

The minister said the government has provided financial support of Rs 169.16 crore to BSNL and Rs 458.04 crore to MTNL for surrender of spectrum in the 800 MHz band.

Prasad said Rs 7,795.99 crore have been allocated and authorised by BSNL in 2015-16 for expansion of communication network capacity in various telecom services. This is a drop in the ocean compared to the losses the two telcos incurred in the fiscal year to March 2015.

In August, the government had approved a plan to spin off BSNL's telecom towers in a bid to shore up its finances.

Comments

 

Other News

AI: Code, Control, Conquer

India today stands at a critical juncture in the area of artificial intelligence. While the country is among the fastest adopters of AI in the world, it remains heavily reliant on technologies developed elsewhere. This paradox, experts warn, cannot persist if India seeks technological sovereignty.

RBI pauses to assess inflation risks, policy transmission

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has begun the new fiscal year with a calibrated pause, keeping the repo rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent in its April Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. The decision, taken unanimously, reflects a shift from aggressive policy action to cautious observation after a signi

New pathways for tourism growth

Traditionally, India’s tourism policy has been based on three main components: the number of visitors, building tourist attractions and providing facilities for tourists. Due to the increase in climate-related issues and environmental destruction that occurred over previous years, policymakers have b

Is the US a superpower anymore?

On April 8, hours after warning that “a whole civilisation will die tonight,” US president Donald Trump, exhibiting his unique style of retreating from high-voltage brinkmanship, announced that he agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran. The weekend talks in Islamabad have failed and the futur

Machines communicate, humans connect

There is a moment every event professional knows—the kind that arrives without warning, usually an hour before the curtain rises. Months of meticulous planning are in place. And then comes the call: “We’ll also need a projector. For the slides.”   No email

Why India is entering a ‘stagflation lite’ phase

India’s macroeconomic narrative is quietly shifting—from a rare “Goldilocks” equilibrium of stable growth and contained inflation to a more fragile phase where external shocks are beginning to dominate domestic policy outcomes. The numbers still look reassuring at first glance: GDP


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter