The Government of India is set to aggressively pursue the monetization of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited’s (BSNL) land assets, with an estimated outlay of ₹4,000 crore, according to Telecommunications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. The monetization process will be executed in different phases, with land assets valued below ₹100 crore managed directly by BSNL’s Board and the Group of Ministers (GoM). Meanwhile, larger land parcels will be handled by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) through the National Land Monetization Corporation (NLMC), with a pipeline worth ₹4,000 crore already in place, Scindia revealed in an interview.
Of the total outlay, ₹1,200 crore worth of land assets fall under the ₹100 crore limit, enabling BSNL and the GoM to move forward with monetization independently. The remaining high-value assets will be overseen by the NLMC. Scindia emphasized that the Ministry of Finance has set a monetization target of ₹800 crore for the 2024-25 fiscal year, and BSNL has already achieved investments worth ₹840 crore under this initiative.
According to a recent Parliamentary update, BSNL and MTNL have collectively generated ₹12,984.86 crore from the monetization of land, buildings, telecom towers, and fibre infrastructure since 2019. Out of this, BSNL has earned ₹2,387.82 crore, while MTNL has secured ₹2,134.61 crore from land and building monetization alone. Additionally, BSNL has raised ₹8,204.18 crore, and MTNL ₹258.25 crore, from the monetization of telecom towers and fibre assets.
Highlighting BSNL’s turnaround over the last decade, Scindia noted improvements in revenue growth, cost reductions, and operational profitability. He also underscored the government’s massive capital infusion into BSNL’s network expansion, particularly in 4G deployment. “We have an aggressive plan to install 4G towers at one lakh sites, of which 89,000 sites are already operational. Our 4G network currently serves 1.8 crore customers, and we aim to expand this further,” Scindia added.
