The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has accepted monetisation of about 17 properties of Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) valued collectively about Rs 23,358 crore within the first section.
In the primary section of monetisation, 11 property of BSNL valued at Rs 18,200 crore, and 6 property of MTNL price Rs 5,158 crore have been accepted for monetisation, Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan advised Parliament on Wednesday.
Of these, properties recognized for monetisation within the first section, 4 properties of BSNL whose reserve value was set at Rs 670 crore and two properties of MTNL with base value of Rs 290 crore have been taken for e-auction, however bids have been obtained just for one property of MTNL, Chauhan stated.
In February, Business Standard had reported that the primary ever public sale of non-core property by way of DIPAM’s asset monetisation portal did not garner enough response for land property of BSNL and MTNL, and the division had requested its property consultants to determine points within the bidding standards that may be resolved.
These properties included BSNL’s land in (*17*) (about Rs 400 crore) land in Rajpura (almost Rs 70 crore) a 5-acre land in Bhavnagar (Rs 41 crore) and an 11-acre land in Kolkata (Rs 161 crore). MTNL’s 1.36-acre property in Mumbai valued at Rs 270 crore, and 20 residential flats valued about Rs 20 crore, have been additionally put up for auctioning. Monetisation of those six properties of the 2 telcos was a part of the revival package deal introduced by the Centre in 2019, and the Department of Telecom was anticipating Rs 3,000 crore from sale.
From the announcement of the revival package deal for BSNL and MTNL in October 2019 to February 2021, BSNL has been in a position to generate Rs 242 crore from monetisation of land and constructing property, Parliament was knowledgeable final yr.
With regards to the six properties that have been placed on the block earlier, the Centre is contemplating stress-free some norms that led to the failure in attracting bids for these property.
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