India's Mahanagar Telephone Nigam surges after report on govt's revival plan

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam

18/11/2021 09:07

BENGALURU, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Shares of India's state-owned
loss-making telecom firm Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd  MTNL.NS 
soared as much as 15% on Thursday, after a media report that the
government has a revival plan in place. 
    India has drawn up a package worth nearly 1.3 trillion 
rupees ($17.54 billion) to revive state-run telecom companies 
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd,
according to news agency NewsRise. 
    The proposed details are expected to be floated in the
cabinet next month, the agency reported, citing a senior
government official aware of the development.
    "The cash component in package would be 250 billion
rupees-to-300 billion rupees", the news agency reported citing
the official, adding that there would also be issuance of
preferential shares to the government.
    The development comes after the government deferred, earlier
this year, the merger of the two state-owned companies due to
financial reasons, according to local media reports.  
    The remainder of the package would be split into about 500
billion rupees of spectrum payment dues and 360 billion rupees
of pending adjusted gross revenue payments, according to the
NewsRise report.
    The company, set up in 1986 by the Indian government, posted
a loss of 6.53 billion rupees for the quarter ended Sept. 30, up
from 5.83 billion rupees a year ago. 
    MTNL's shares rose 15% to 20.70 rupees in their biggest
intraday rise since March 10 and have so far gained 30.4% this
year. 
    The company's total debt stood at 256.15 billion rupees
($3.46 billion), at the end of financial year March 31, 2021. 
     
($1 = 74.1100 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh
Kuber)
 ((ramavenkat.raman@thomsonreuters.com; https://twitter.com/ramavenkat0607;))