Dear Shareholders,
On behalf of the Board of Directors and Management, I welcome you all to this 21st
Annual General Meeting of your Company. The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and its presence
during this financial year also touched off the society and economy.
I, sincerely hope that you and your family members are safe, and practising all safety
protocols and adhering to all government guidelines. Despite taking all the precautions,
Many BSNL employees lost their lives during the second wave of the pandemic including Shri
S.K Gupta, Ex- Director (F) & CFO of your Company. I extend my heartfelt condolences
to the bereaved families.
Telecom being 'essential service', your Company's executives and employees have been
working even during lockdown, to ensure uninterrupted connectivity to its millions of
subscribers across the Country.
The management of the Company have already initiated implementation of various
provisions of revival plan approved by the Union Cabinet on 23.10.2019. Action on few has
been completed and few are in progress. The response to the VRS scheme was overwhelming
and was opted by over 78000 employees resulting in reduction in manpower by about 53%.
The Company issued 85000 Government of India Guaranteed, Rated, Unsecured, Redeemable,
Taxable, Listed, Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) of face value Rs.10,00,000 each
aggregating to Rs. 8,500 Crores on private placement basis for cash at par on 23.09.2020
through book building route at coupon rate of 6.79% . The Bonds are listed with Bombay
Stock Exchange (BSE) w.e.f. 28.09.2020.
Pursuant to the Union Cabinet's in-principle approval for merger of MTNL with BSNL, M/s
Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP were engaged as Consultant to advice. The Consultants
recommended that subsidiarisation/ merger may not yield the desired results pending
resolution of the key challenges like high outstanding debt burden of MTNL added with its
negative net worth and HR issues etc. Based on this, the management of your Company
addressed to the Administrative Ministry that pending redressal of key challenges, as
suggested by the Consultants merger/subsidiarisation may not yield desired results.
Thereafter DOT vide their OM dated 05.01.2021 conveyed that the Group of Ministers (GoM)
constituted in the matter of "Revival of BSNL and MTNL" vide Cabinet Secretariat
OM. Dated 27.12.2019 in the meeting held on 21.12.2020 inter alia approved that
"since due to financial reasons including high debt of MTNL, the merger of MTNL with
BSNL or MTNL being made a subsidiary of BSNL is being deferred".
The Group of Ministers (GoM) also accorded its approval to allot spectrum through
equity infusion by Government of India for providing 4G services to BSNL for Delhi and
Mumbai (MTNL area) in place of MTNL and to increase the authorised Share Capital of BSNL
from 32,500 Crore to Rs. 40,000 Crores.
To implement the above, Your Company has also obtained Unified License, which enables
the Company to render telecom services across the country including Delhi and Mumbai
License Areas. Your Company already had roaming agreements with MTNL for its mobile
services customers. In order to provide better services to BSNL roaming customers, the
Management of your Company had proposed to the Government that operations of MTNL's mobile
network may be taken over by your Company as an outsource service agency to MTNL. The MTNL
Management and Government has agreed for the same. Pursuant to that your Company has
started providing services to the customers in the name of MTNL as a Short term strategy
initially at Delhi, followed by Mumbai.
For monetisation of lands / buildings, the Company had already offered for monetization
13 land parcels in Phase-I & a list of another 24 land parcels through DIPAM in
Phase-II at an estimated value of Rs.23830.96 Cr,.
During the year 2020-21, the Company incurred a loss of Rs. 7441.12 Crores (Previous
year Rs. 15499.53 Crores). While the Income from Services is Rs. 17451.80 Crores (Previous
year Rs. 17886.09 Crores), the Other Income is Rs. 1143 Crores (Previous Year Rs. 1020.47
Crores).
Your Company has turned EBITA positive during this Financial Year to Rs. 1177 Crores.
The Board of Directors of your Company have decided to commercially operationalize the
wholly owned subsidiary Company previous year to carry out certain identified non-telecom
activities. Now the Company has started its commercial operations during the F.Y. 2020-21.
It had earned a revenue of Rs. 3,131,000 from P2P Projects.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my sincere gratitude for continued support and guidance
received from the Government of India, Ministry of Communications, Department of
Telecommunications and other Ministries and Departments of the Government of India,
Regulatory Authorities, Local Bodies and the State Governments. The unwavering support of
the Ministry of Communications and other Ministries of the Government of India has been
the greatest strength of your Company.
I would also like to place on record our sincere thanks and gratitude to all our
shareholders, investors, lenders and all other stakeholders who have supported the company
including our esteemed customers, associates, suppliers, franchises and service providers
for their continued support.
As I conclude, I would like to thank each one of you for having been a partner in this
ongoing journey. Your support is highly valued and your Company's success is an indication
of the faith you have always bestowed upon us and 'Team BSNL', for their immense
contribution in our forward march.
Thank you, Jai Hind!
| Sd/- |
| P.K.PURWAR |
| CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR |