BSNL asset monetisation plan: Land assets bid fails to gather adequate response: Report

moneycontrol.com:

Bidding for sale of non-core assets of state-run telecom Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) has failed to gather “adequate response”, against an expectation of raising at least Rs 470 crore through land assets, Business Standard reported.

While preliminary evaluation by government-appointed property consultants had found greater interest in acquisition of such assets, an official told the paper that Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has now asked its property consultants to identify specific issues and determine the changes and relaxations to be made in terms and conditions for sale.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

DIPAM listed six BSNL and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam (MTNL) properties for sale through the new e-bidding portal in November 2021 – this includes four land parcels from BSNL, and land and residential flats owned by MTNL in Mumbai. This came after the Centre’s revival package for the telcos, made in 2019 listed asset monetisation as a step.

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The Department of Telecom (DoT) is expecting Rs 3,000 crore from sale of these six properties, but only few of the MTNL flats received some response while land from BSNL in Hyderabad and Rajpura, valued at Rs 400 crore and Rs 70 crore respectively, got no response, the report noted.

This was the first auction held via the DIPAM’s asset management portal developed by MSTC. The bidding for all six assets will be conducted again, it added.

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CBRE South Asia, Cushman & Wakefield, JLL Property Consultants (India) and Knight Frank (India) are acting consultants for the Centre’s sale of these