BSNL’s VRS package is out and valid till December 3 — and over half of all employees are eligible

• All the permanent employees of 50 years and above as on January 31, 2020 can opt for VRS.
  
• BSNL and MTNL together have 200,000 employees. Of this, 121,000 can apply for the scheme.
  
• The union government will also trim the retirement age of employees to 58 years. The present age for retirement at the state-run telcos is 60 years.

After months of anticipation and protests, state-owned BSNL has announced its Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) package for its employees. This package will be available for employees aged 50 and above, and will be paid in tranches.

Eligible employees are rushing to apply for it as rumours of the company reducing retirement age is also doing the rounds. After implementing the bailout package for BSNL and MTNL, the union government plans to trim the retirement age of employees to 58 years. The current age for retirement at the state-run telcos is 60 years.

Almost half of them are expected to retire in the next five to six years, Business Standard reports.

MTNL, on the other hand, already announced the scheme which is the same as that of BSNL. The VRS scheme will be available till December 3, 2019 by 5:30 pm. “All the permanent employees of 50 years and above as on January 31, 2020" can opt for it,” the company said.

As per the scheme, the company will give 125% of the salary of an employee’s remaining service.


Both the debt-ridden telecom players have nearly 200,000 employees. Of this, 121,000 are eligible to apply for the scheme.

However, even after the scheme is implemented, as many as 100,000 employees will remain on its rolls of both the telcos. After this move the telcos plan to outsource processes to run operations.

The move is expected to boost the revenue of the companies. Employees costs account to three fourth of BSNL’s revenue. For MTNL, employee costs are at 87% of its revenue.

To revive these debt-laden companies, the government has planned to merge BSNL and MTNL. Until the merger is implemented, MTNL will be considered a subsidiary of BSNL. The government will infuse a total of ₹29,900 crore for VRS settlements and retirement liabilities of these state-owned telcos.

The government will also allocate 4G spectrum to the merged entity as a part of the revival package. This will help the company compete with top three telecom players who offer high-speed data services.

BSNL’s accumulated losses stood at ₹14,000 crore while MTNL posted a loss of ₹3,388 crore in 2019 fiscal.

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