BSNL clears November salaries worth ₹800 crore for employees

New Delhi: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has cleared vendor dues worth ₹1700 crore that were pending for over six months, the company’s Chairman and Managing Director P.K. Purwar said on Tuesday.

“These dues include payments for both capex and opex which were pending for over 6 months. These have been made through internal accruals and loans. The total dues to creditors as of now is almost ₹10,000 crore," Purwar told reporters here.

The state-run telecom company has also cleared November salaries worth ₹800 crore for employees on Monday, he said.

“Stability in the salary payment schedule is expected to take 2-3 months more," Purwar said.

As of mid December, as many as 78,569 employees of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd have availed the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) option offered by the government and applications of most of these will be approved, Purwar had told Mint on 17 December.

The company also expects savings of ₹1300 crore in wage bills for the financial year ending 31 March, 2020 once the VRS scheme takes effect on 31 January, 2020.

As far as MTNL is concerned, 14,300 employees have applied for VRS.

The scheme was rolled out on 5 November.

All regular and permanent employees of BSNL, including those on deputation to other organisation or posted outside BSNL on deputation basis, who attained the age of 50 years or above are eligible to seek voluntary retirement under the scheme.

The Cabinet in October approved a ₹69,000 crore revival package for BSNL and MTNL that includes monetising their assets and giving VRS to employees. The two operators will also be merged.

“Initial discussions for the merger of two companies have already begun. Our focus will be on network integration and synergies," Purwar had then said.

Moreover, BSNL has also identified 14 land parcels worth ₹20,000 crore for monetisation purposes, Purwar said.

The package includes infusion of ₹20,140 crore for purchase of 4G spectrum, ₹3,674 crore for GST to be paid on spectrum allocation, companies raising ₹15,000 crore in debt on the sovereign guarantee and government funding ₹17,160 crore for VRS and another ₹12,768 crore towards retirement liability.

Sovereign bonds will be issued to restructure debt and meet other expenses. The bonds will have to be serviced by both operators. The two firms will also monetise assets worth ₹37,500 crore in the next three years.