Plan to raise Rs 16,000 cr from sale of MTNL, BSNL assets in last lap

In November last year, MTNL defaulted on a settlement of 5,726.29 crore, making up a major amount of 5,492 crore raised from various financial institutions and rate of interest of 234.28 crore, the company claimed in a regulatory filing at the time. It stated its complete financial debt stood at 32,097.28 crore, 40 times greater than its combined yearly earnings of 798 crore. From January 1, 2025 the core functional possessions of MTNL such as telephone exchanges, power plant, batteries, different types of cords, software program and hardware were merged with BSNL.

The money ministry prepares to elevate 16,000 crore by offering assets of MTNL and BSNL. Accepted by NLMC and the Division of Public Enterprises, the sale got rid of key bottlenecks, consisting of charge waivers. Proceeds will strengthen the telecommunications firms. MTNL back-pedaled a considerable payment last year and combined core operational possessions with BSNL from January 2025.

A group of ministers, led by Rajnath Singh, managing the rebirth plan of both state-run firms, had given its nod to the proposal earlier this week, among the officials said, including that it had likewise approved waiver of fees and service fee from the Delhi Advancement Authority and Maharashtra Real Estate and Location Advancement Authority.

Finance preacher Nirmala Sitharaman revealed the launch of Property Monetisation 2.0 in her budget speech, intending to produce 10 lakh crore by monetising government-owned properties and reinvesting the earnings right into new facilities projects. The Centre has actually budgeted 47,000 crore with disinvestment and property monetisation for 2025-26.

The proposition, already cleared by the National Land Money Making Company (NLMC) and the Division of Public Enterprises, is expected to obtain final approval from the Division of Financial Investment and Public Property Monetisation next week, authorities stated.

The NLMC had actually been without a full-time chief executive which had slowed down the monetisation process. The federal government recently appointed Vikas Anand, a 2002 batch Uttarakhand Indian Administrative Services officer as full-time CEO of the body.

The properties recognized for the very first phase are MTNL’s Central Administration Structure at CR Marg, Ft, Mumbai, office complex in Connaught Area near the fire brigade office, Delhi, BSNL’s building in Santacruz and Dinrose Telephone Exchange structure in Anna Salai, Chennai.