The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sought Rs 33,111 crore for the payment of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). BSNL needs to claim the amount, and then the payment will likely be made in the first quarter of FY24. According to a PTI report, the Department of Telecommunications said in a submission to the Standing Committee of Communications and Information Technology that against the proposal of Rs 39,725.07 crore for FY24, Rs 66,691.82 crore has been allocated to it in the budget. The additional amount is towards the payment of AGR dues by BSNL, which is a part of the state-run telco's revival package.
BSNL will make the payment once it claims the amount, and that should most likely happen in the first quarter of FY24, said DoT. Under the budget estimates for FY24, the DoT has been allocated a total of Rs 1,08,153.25 crore by the Finance Ministry, which comprises Rs 41,461.43 crore under the revenue section and Rs 66,691.82 crore for capital section accounts.
Read More - BSNL Revenue Targets Elevated by Central Govt
For the current fiscal, the government had allocated Rs 44,720 crore to be infused as capital in the state-run telcos, including BSNL and MTNL. But the amount was later revised to Rs 33,269.01 crore, and out of the allocated fund, over Rs 23,873.44 crore has been spent till December 2022.
DoT also talked about the 4G rollout of BSNL in India. The telecom department said that because BSNL is using a homegrown 4G stack for the first time in India, coupled with the issues in the supply chain of chipsets, the deployment of its 4G will start gradually and would take around 2 years to be completed.
The telecom department reiterated that BSNL will turn profitable by FY27. For the coming fiscal FY24, the government has set a revenue target of Rs 21,908 crore compared to Rs 17,161 crore this fiscal year.
