BSNL: The government has given a reply on the privatization of BSNL. As part of the strategy of selling stake in loss-making government companies, questions are being raised about BSNL again and again. Now the central government has clarified its stand on the privatization of BSNL.
New Delhi: The government has finally made its stand clear on BSNL. The government is not making any plans for the stake sale of the loss-making state-run telecom company BSNL. The Central Government has said that no consideration is being given to the disinvestment of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). This information has been given by the Telecom Ministry in Parliament.
Minister of State gave information
In response to a question asked in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Telecom, Devusinh Chouhan said that there is no plan for disinvestment of BSNL yet. DMK MP DM Kathir Anand had asked the government whether BSNL assets would be taken into account for disinvestment. In response to this, the Minister of State flatly refused to consider it.
This data is of fixed assets
Not only this, the DMK MP in Parliament had also sought data from the Telecom Ministry on the existing immovable properties of this government company across the country, including buildings, land, towers and telecom equipment. After this, according to the information given by the ministry, BSNL has 3,266 buildings, 1,388 telecom towers and satellites, 21,042 telecommunication equipment and 686 non-telecom equipment in all the circles across the country.
BSNL’s loss is increasing continuously
Let us tell you that the loss of BSNL, which is one of the country’s leading telecom companies, has been increasing continuously for the last few years. In the financial year 2020-21, the entire loss of BSNL was Rs 7,441.11 crore. At the same time, there was a loss of Rs 15,499.58 crore in the last financial year 2019-20, while it was Rs 15,000 crore in the financial year 2018-19. Prior to this, in the financial year 2017-18, the company had earned Rs 7,993 crore. The company was offering VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme) in view of the increasing losses and decrease in business of the company. 78,569 employees of BSNL took VRS, due to which the losses came down in 2020-21.
Company debt also increasing
It is worth noting that the debt of BSNL company is also increasing continuously. In the last financial year (2020-21) also, the company had a debt of Rs 27,033.6 crore. Whereas it was Rs 21,674.74 crore in 2019-20. At the same time, the total assets of the company have also come down from Rs 59,139.82 crore to Rs 51,686.8 crore. That is, the company is continuously going into big losses.
