MTNL starts Rs 23,000 cr asset monetisation; aims to turn profitable in next fiscal year: CMD Sunil Kumar

New Delhi: State-run telecom firm MTNL has started the process to monetise assets worth Rs 23,000 crore as it aims to turn profitable in the next fiscal year, a top official of the company said on Thursday.

The company has already submitted plans to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) to monetise Rs 6,200 crore worth assets that include 36 acres of land bank in Mumbai, shops-cum-offices in Delhi, and residential quarters in Noida etc.

"We have identified assets worth Rs 23,000 crore that can be monetised. These are all prime properties in Mumbai and Delhi. We have submitted plans to monetise Rs 6,200 crore worth of assets to DIPAM. With the completion of VRS and asset monetisation, we expect to become profitable in the next fiscal," MTNL Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Kumar told PTI.

File image of Rs 100 notes. AFP.

The company has received interest from 14,387 employees for the voluntary retirement scheme which Kumar expects will result in annual savings of Rs 1,700 crore for MTNL. The loss-making PSU has a total of 18,422 employees.

"We are aiming for around Rs 7,000 crore in 2020–21 through real estate asset monetisation, which as a part of revival plan will be used for debt restructuring as well as modernisation," he said.

The company looks to realise around Rs 5,000 crore from the sale of its land parcels located at prime locations of Mumbai like Vasai hill, Mulund, Shimpoli etc.

"MTNL has assets at all the prime locations. Residential as well as commercial complexes can be developed on these properties. Around Rs 1,000 crore worth assets have been initiated for monetisation in Delhi also," Kumar said.

MTNL shops-cum-office complexes in seven DDA markets in Delhi along with 96 quarters in NOIDA and 398 quarters purchased by MTNL in various housing complexes in Mumbai are also going to be for monetisation in the first phase, he said.

The company has started vacating prime office space Khurshid Lal at Janpath and also some parts of its corporate office in CGO building.

"I am going to substantially vacate corporate office also. MTNL is expecting to earn around Rs 500–600 crore per annum through renting," Kumar said.

The company had posted a loss of Rs 3,388.07 crore and a revenue of Rs 2,085.41 crore in 2018-19. The total debt on the company is around Rs 20,000 crore.

The finance cost of MTNL was around 50 percent of the revenue.

The government has approved a Rs 68,751-crore revival package for loss-making BSNL and MTNL, including 4G spectrum allocation and voluntary retirement scheme.