BSNL Rolls Out Voluntary Retirement Scheme For Its Employees

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. has rolled out a voluntary retirement scheme for its employees.

BSNL expects 70,000-80,000 employees to opt for VRS, leading to savings of about Rs 7,000 crore in wage bill. Nearly one lakh employees are eligible for the VRS out of the telecom operator’s total staff strength of 1.50 lakh.

The announcement comes days after the Narendra Modi government approved the BSNL-MTNL merger. The VRS scheme will be open between Nov. 4 and Dec. 3, BSNL Chairman and Managing Director PK Purwar said, adding that instructions have already been given to field units to inform employees about the offering.

According to “BSNL Voluntary Retirement Scheme-2019”, all regular and permanent employees of BSNL, including those on deputation to other organisations or posted outside BSNL on deputation basis and are aged 50 years and above, are eligible to seek voluntary retirement under the scheme.

The amount of ex-gratia for any eligible employee will be equal to 35 days salary for each completed year of service and 25 days salary for every year of service left until superannuation.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. too has rolled out a VRS for its employees. The scheme, based on Gujarat Model of VRS, will be open for employees till Dec. 3, 2019.

In a notice issued by MTNL to employees recently, it mentioned that “all regular and permanent employees of 50 years and above as on January 31, 2020” are eligible to opt for the scheme.

The government had last month 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 within two years.―Bloomberg Quint