Economy & Equity
How was BSNL KILLED (strategically) by the Powerful people of India? : BSNL Tragedy Case Study https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlgk8XXHWuA
23 April 2022
For the past 1.5 years, we have been hearing the news about Govt’s plans to shut down BSNL, and ever since we started following the news, we have always seen BSNL incurring 1000s of crores of losses every single year, infact in the past 10 years, BSNL has incurred a combined loss of more than 80,000cr. and considering the case of Air India and govt bureaucracy in general, we by default assume that BSNL is also one of the ill-run businesses that the govt just can't handle isn't it!!
Well, guess what guys, in FY21 while the market went crazy to see Reliance jio generate a profit of Rs 12,537 crore, very few of us know that there was a time when BSNL generated a profit of 10,183cr! and from 2001–2008 Bsnl had generated a cumulative profit of 46668 Cr which was more than the next 3 telecom operators combined and that too in spite of all the subsidized schemes that it rolled out. and not just that it once had a market share of 70% and literally acted as the backbone of Indian telecommunication.
So The question is What exactly went wrong with BSNL that it suddenly went from being a jewel of India to a sick company in less than a decade?
Was it yet another govt mishandling or was it deliberately paralyzed by the private sector? and most importantly, as citizens of India, what are the lessons that we need to from the Tragic downfall of BSNL?
“They want to let BSNL die”: The rot inside India’s government-owned telecom firms https://qz.com/india/1936622/why-indias-bsnl-mtnl-are-losing-out-to-firms-like-reliance-jio/ November 23, 2020
“We have also known for a long time that our old landline copper cables need to be upgraded to fibre cables, but we have not been given the budgets,” said Shirke, the section supervisor.
But the most glaring disadvantage for BSNL and MTNL is the fact that they are still stuck with 3G technology, while a large number of consumers have rapidly moved on to 4G since 2016. “The government has not allowed us to get a 4G license even though all our private sector competitors provide 4G,” said John. “So naturally we are losing customers we cannot blame them for choosing better and faster services.” In the Rs70,000 crore revival package approved for the companies last year, nearly Rs 24,000 crore was meant to be for allocating 4G spectrum to BSNL and MTNL. A tender for buying 4G equipment from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE was finalised, but in July, BSNL was forced to cancel the tender. After 20 Indian soldiers were killed during a stand-off with the Chinese army in June, the central government barred public sector companies from striking any deals with Chinese companies. “But private companies were not stopped from such deals. How is this fair?” said Shirke.
The combined impact of outdated services and lower staff will inevitably mean a drop in customer base and even bigger financial losses, say unions. “The government is giving encouragement to private players in the industry, but letting its own organisation stagnate,” said Dinesh Mistry, the assistant general secretary of the National Union of BSNL Workers. “Every decision that the government has taken has been against the interests of MTNL-BSNL,” said Arvind Sawant, the head of the MTNL Kamgar Sangh and also a member of Parliament from the Shiv Sena. “They want to let BSNL die.”
Behind BSNL and MTNL’s poor services: A retirement scheme, staff shortages and delayed 4G https://scroll.in/article/977512/behind-bsnl-and-mtnls-poor-services-a-retirement-scheme-staff-shortages-and-delayed-4g
Users across the country are giving up their MTNL or BSNL connections as the loss-making public sector companies struggle to stay afloat.
Aarefa Johari
Nov 19, 2020 ·
Modinomics & LIC : डूबती कपनियों की मददगार एलआईसी को भी डूबाने की तैयारी.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7wBtdwGRcg
sSep 10, 2021
Jagrut Bhatt
Sir, AIIEA , LIC employees' union is the biggest trade union in LIC having more than 80% membership of Class 3 & 4 employees.This union is fighting tooth & nail against LIC IPO, privatization and opening of Life insurance sector to FDI.
But like farmers and other class-agitations, the government is totally ignoring the union's opposition and agitation. This is the situation.
G.C. Mathur
The trade unions in these PSUs must rise to protect their rights of protecting their livelihood politically. This is the time they realise that they are voters and must assert themselves as citizens of Indian democracy.
Privatisation: Centre May Sell its Stake in Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank https://gaurilankeshnews.com/privatisation-centre-may-sell-its-stake-in-central-bank-of-india-and-indian-overseas-bank/ Earlier, in May the government had given the in-principle approval for the disinvestment and transfer of management control in IDBI bank.
https://gaurilankeshnews.com/save-public-sector-building-a-mass-movement-against-privatisation/
How to destroy the Indian Economy? Poonam Gupta and Arvind Panagaraiya prescribe By Thomas Franco | August 2, 2022 https://www.cenfa.org/how-to-destroy-the-indian-economy-poonam-gupta-and-arvind-panagaraiya-prescribe/ Poonam Gupta and Arvind Panagaraiya prescribe the solution they give is to privatise all banks without looking at the failure of private banks which are only for profit. Between 1947 and 1951, 205 private banks went out of business. Between 1951 and 1967, 476 private banks went out of business. Between 1969 and 2008, 36 banks were taken over by other banks, most of them by public sector banks. In the US, 512 private banks failed between 2008 and 2020. Global Trust Bank, Centurion Bank, and the Yes Bank had to be saved by public sector banks only. ..
Deposits and credit have grown because of the public sector banks. But, due to the merger, prompt corrective action and the threat of privatisation, the gains earned are being taken away. This has accelerated after 2014 during which period the authors have been at the helm of the affairs and they are the ones to be blamed. While mentioning the rise of private banks, the authors have carefully avoided the takeover of failed private banks by public banks from 1969 onwards. Again most of the mergers were with public banks to save the failing private banks. The new private banks like ICICI Bank, AXIS Bank, and HDFC Bank which are the largest private banks with government support are not mentioned by the authors. When there was a problem with ICICI it was the SBI which saved it. Even in future, these same experts will ask the government to save the private banks which fail due to mismanagement and fraud. That’s what happened in the US too.
In short, as per the authors, all banks should be privatised, starting with Indian Bank, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank. The government should not have any control, CVC should not investigate, RBI should become a mega ruler (who will dance to the tune of the political bosses as the directors have no accountability) and Corporates should have the right to run banks like they run NBFCs and foreigners should be welcomed to own our banks as they will bring innovation.
The small household depositors who have 62.63% of the total deposits and 81.17% of the savings deposits will lose their deposits over a period of time. 14,045 big borrowers who have Rs 35,12,801 crores (29.5% of all credit) of the outstanding loan can default and ruin the banks. Small borrowers will go to NBFCs and MFIs, will pay huge interest, default and lose their assets. Of course, there will be no reservation in employment. Basically, the economy will collapse. IMF and World Bank will rejoice. Ambadani or someone will become the official or unofficial dictator. Poonam and Panagaraiya will live happily abroad.
Centre should privatise all PSBs, except State Bank of India: NCAER Nikunj Ohri July 11, 2022 https://www.business-standard.com/article/finance/centre-should-privatise-all-psbs-except-state-bank-of-india-ncaer-122071101472_1.html First 2 banks for privatisation should be those with good asset quality and low NPA, says the report authored by NCAER’s Poonam Gupta and economist Arvind Panagariya
The report suggests that the first two banks chosen for privatisation should be the ones with the highest returns on assets and equity, and the lowest NPAs in the last five years.
It also said that the PSBs with lower government ownership would be easier to privatise. This is because the first two banks chosen for privatisation should set an example for the success of future privatisations. The markets must see value in the chosen banks to attract two or more buyers.
NCAER also makes a case for corporate ownership in banks with due diligence as there is “scarcity” of potential large-scale investors in banks. The government must allow foreign investors, including foreign banks and domestic investors, as well as corporate houses to enter the auctions with due diligence, the report said.
“Any potential risk associated with corporate ownership or foreign banks may be minimised by letting a consortium of corporations enter the bidding with the stake of any single corporation capped. It would ring-fence the Indian banking operations of a foreign firm through appropriate regulation and supervision,” it added.
- Roadshows in the US to sell IDBI Bank! Why not allow LIC to own it?
- Privatisation of PSBs Will Deal a Blow to Reservation, Government's Coffers
- RBI Director called PSU Bank Executives Scum!
- Banking Regulations: Should Corporates Own Banks?
- LIC IPO: DRHP likely this month, 20% FDI cap being proposed
- nationalize the loss making banks and privatize the profitable banks
- Legislation to Privatise Two Public Sector Banks?
- Defend Bank Nationalisation
- BMC scraps 1.8k vacant posts, hundreds of contract staff hit
- Medha Patkar on Current Economic Policy
- The Shadow Government Plundering the Public Purse
- And how common citizens are paying the price for bad Monopolies
- Employees of Mahavitaran Jalgaon zone against privatization.
- Issues with Privatisation of Essential Services and Free Speech Institutions
- SC Dismisses Kerala Govt's Plea Against Adani Group's Takeover of Thiruvananthapuram Airport
- Understanding Deregulation, Privatisation & Economic Reforms
- Pawan Hans Sale: Cayman Firm in Winning Bid Flayed By NCLT
- the biggest privatisation scam in India
- Welcome Kerala Legislative Assembly’s resolution opposing disinvestment of the LIC
- Where has all the silver gone?
- LIC IPO- Gross injustice to the smaller LIC policy holders, especially those belonging to the SCs/STs/OBCs
- How to kill LIC -story behind IPO
- The political economy of CPSE disinvestmen
- Companies Bought & Sold by different Prime Ministers
- Public Private Partnerships – Subsidy and Impunity for Private Corporations
- CEL Sale
- On Trend for Privatisation: Kanhaiya Kumar
- Privatisation of CEL
- Privatisation: What Does It Really Mean?
- Dayanidhi Maran Shows Mirror To Govt On NPA Write-off and Haircut To Corporates
- virtually extending the lease in perpetuity
- World Bank offers to help National Rail Plan B
- Privatising power distribution: A hoax
- Modi’s Monetisation Worse than Demonetisation.
- Economics of Monetisation of Assets
- Monetisation: Designed To Create 2-3 Monopolies
- Privatised Infrastructure by Adani Group
- To BEST: Why are we waiting for hours?