Govt Plans Rs 8500 Crore VRS For MTNL, BSNL

This might be one of the most largest voluntary retirement schemes (VRS) and early pension scheme offered within the country. The govt is making plans a near Rs 8500-crore make a stronger scheme for BSNL and MTNL to scale back the large pool of their getting old manpower and infuse contemporary life into these sick telecom PSUs, which can be underneath debt and heavy losses.

Official sources said the 2 PSUs — in spite of being noticed as a burden at the exchequer — are “strategic belongings” in a sector the place “govt presence is fascinating”.

The VRS make stronger for BSNL is estimated at Rs 6,365 crore, whilst for MTNL — which operates in Delhi and Mumbai circles — it is Rs 2,120 crore. The plan will probably be sponsored via a 10-year bond issue, for which massive land holdings of those two PSUs will also be kept as collateral, sources added.

The make stronger scheme, which may even help these PSUs in getting access to 4G spectrum, was made up our minds at a meeting of the Digital Communications Commission (DCC), the highest decision-making frame on telecom issues.

BSNL, which has a debt of Rs 14,000 crore and had amassed losses of Rs 31,287 crore on the end of 2017-18, lately has 1.76 lakh workers. The salary bill of those staff is nearly 60% of the income the corporation makes in a 12 months.

The govt expects that either thru VRS/early pension scheme or by way of natural process retirement over the next five-six years, the manpower of BSNL will also be reduced via around 75,000 other people.

MTNL, which has 22,000 staff and a debt of around Rs 19,000 crore, spends as much as 90% of its income on wages, which is a big drain on finances and boundaries its capacity to spend money on new technologies. A supply said over a period of five-to-six years, around 16,000 workers of the corporate will probably be retiring. “If this procedure will also be hastened thru VRS, the health will also be nurtured sooner.”

The VRS scheme sought via these corporations is based on the ‘Gujarat style’. Under this, a quantity identical to 35 days of salary for each completed 12 months of the carrier, and 25 days of salary for each 12 months of carrier left till retirement, is obtainable.—Ideal News