Government-backed staff rationalisation drive to turn BSNL profitable: Chairman

NEW DELHI: State-run telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) could become a dividend-paying operator even in the current stressful times, if its headcount is streamlined like private sector players, once the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) gets the Centre’s nod.

“Salary expenses which constitute nearly 65% of the revenue, are dragging us down. If we had employees in a ratio similar to private players, we would be a divident-paying company,” BSNL chairman Anupam Shrivastava told ETT.

Meanwhile, a letter of comfort for Presidential Sanction of Rs 3500 crore has been issued to the ailing telco by the department of teleocm (DoT) to facilitate bank credit which would help it to avail working capital