Are the days numbered for MTNL?

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The government may shut Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and shift its staff and operations to to BSNL. The government had earlier planned to merge the two companies. MTNL runs cellular and landline telephone services is Delhi and Mumbai. According to Mint newspaper, the company is almost Rs 40,000 crore in debt. Shutting MTNL will also entail delisting the company from stock exchanges, but it is not sure whether BSNL will be listed. BSNL seems to be in a better financial position. BSNL will begin offering 4G services by the end of the year. In FY 23, BSNL revenue rose to Rs 20,700 cr with Rs 8161 cr losses. On the other hand MTNL posted a revenue of Rs 861 cr down from Rs 1069 cr in FY22 and reported loss of Rs 2910 cr. BSNL and MTNL have been receiving relief packages from the government. They received Rs 69000 cr in 2019 and BSNL received Rs 1.64 lakh cr in 2022.

GoFirst’s take-off subject to many troubles After suspending all operations on 3rd May, troubled carrier GoFirst has approached DGCA to seek take-off approval with 22 flights for next 5 months. It noted access to Rs 400 crore of funds under government’s emergency credit line guarantee scheme and other unutilised credit, while it needs Rs 200 crore to start flying again. The airline is in the midst of raising Rs 250 crores. DGCA remains sceptical of human resource adequacy at GoFirst. However, the airline reported having 340 pilots, 530 engineers and 680 cabin crew members, despite massive resignations. But its ticketing agents are planning to boycott the airline if GoFirst begins flying without any clarity on refunds and credit shells for canceled flights. Till date, the airline has said nothing on it, given speculations around its bankruptcy. And insolvency tribunal NCLT will begin hearings against the airline, filed by 3 lessors who want to take back possession of 12 aircraft. It has also directed GoFirst’s interim resolution professionals to reply within a week.