Govt identifies 600 land parcels, buildings of BSNL and MTNL for ‘outright sale’

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has identified around 600 land parcels and buildings owned by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) for outright sale to government departments, public sector undertakings, and government organisations.

Through land monetisation, the Centre is looking to reduce the debt of both telecom-sector PSUs. These properties could fetch the government over Rs 20,000 crore

In a communication dated May 21 addressed to all secretaries in central ministries and chief secretaries of states and Union Territories, the DoT Secretary Neeraj Mittal informed that BSNL has created a website listing all the land parcels and buildings up for outright sale across the country.

“I would request you to issue instructions for wide publicity of the website in various departments/PSUs/organizations under your ministry. This would help Govt. organizations, who are in need of such properties in availing benefit from the scheme of direct sale from PSU to govt organisation,” Mittal said in the letter. Moneycontrol reviewed a copy of the letter.

BSNL and MTNL are PSUs under administrative control of Department of Telecommunication. Union Cabinet in 2019 has approved the revival plan of BSNL/MTNL which also includes monetization its surplus land/building assets.

BSNL has an assets base spread over the country and MTNL has properties located in Delhi and Mumbai. Most of the properties are at prime locations.

The government has earmarked over 100 properties of MTNL for direct sale through an auction process. These include 48 properties in Delhi and 52 in Maharashtra, including Mumbai. Prominent among them are properties in Connaught Place (New Delhi), the renowned MTNL Telephone House in Prabhadevi (Mumbai), and the Telephone Bhavan in Colaba (Mumbai). Additional properties are situated in Powai, Andheri, Bandra, Mulund, Vashi, and Worli in Mumbai.

Furthermore, more than 530 buildings/land parcels have been identified in other states across the country.

Last year, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) informed the parliamentary standing committee on communications and IT that the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management had approved the monetisation of BSNL assets worth Rs 18,200 crore and six MTNL properties valued at Rs 5,158 crore.

The government has implemented several measures to revive BSNL and MTNL. In 2019, a revival package of Rs 69,021 crore was allocated to the firms, aimed at reducing their operating costs.

Additionally, in 2022, a further revival package totalling around Rs 1.64 lakh crore was introduced. This package focused on injecting fresh capital, debt restructuring, viability gap funding for rural telephony, and other initiatives.