Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd lost Rs 9,000 crore (Rs 90 billion) for providing telephones in villages and remote areas, between its corporatisation in October, 2000 and December 31, 2002, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
In order to compensate the BSNL for the loss, the government provided reimbursement of licence fee of Rs 2,300 crore (Rs 23 billion) in 2001-02, Minister of State for Communications Sumitra Mahajan said in a written reply.
Further, an amount of Rs 2,300 crore (Rs 23 billion) has been provided in the budget of the Department of Telecommunications for reimbursement for 2002-03.
The government also agreed to exempt BSNL from payment of some of the additional expenditures arising out of conversion of Department of Telecom Operations and Department of Telecom Services into a corporation.
These include payment of dividend on preference equity of Rs 7,500 crore (Rs 75 billion) up to March 31, 2004 and on equity share capital of Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) up to March 31, 2002. The dividend on equity for 2002-03 and 2003-04 shall be waived by 50 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.
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