The government has kicked off its asset monetisation programme by inviting bids to sell six assets of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) through its new asset monetisation portal at a reserve price of around Rs 1,100 crore.

“Non-core asset monetisation commences with the first set of six properties of BSNL/ MTNL bid out on the MSTC portal,” DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted.

BSNL properties located in Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Bhavnagar and Calcutta have been posted for sale at a reserve price of around Rs 800 crore.

The DIPAM website has listed MTNL assets located in Vasari Hill, Goregaon in Mumbai for sale at a reserve price of around Rs 270 crore.

MTNL’s 20 flats located in Oshiwara have also been put up for sale as part of the asset monetisation plan of the company.

The flats include two units of 1-room set, 17 units of 1 bedroom hall and kitchen (BHK) and one unit of 2 BHK. Their reserve prices range from Rs 52.26 lakh to Rs 1.59 crore.

The asset monetisation plan is part of the Rs 69,000 crore revival scheme for MTNL and BSNL, which was approved by the government in October 2019. Both the public sector firms were to identify and monetise assets worth Rs 37,500 crore by 2022.

The idea is to put idle land parcels of state-owned entities to use and realise their value. The effort is on the lines of the National Monetisation Pipeline — where the government aims to monetise under-utilised assets, non-core assets. Unlike the NMP, in case of PSUs’ land sale, the ownership of assets will be transferred.

The government is reportedly looking to monetise land parcels worth Rs 10,000 crore through the new e-bidding platform. The pipeline of land assets has been prepared after discussions with consultants appointed by DIPAM, which include CBRE South Asia, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India, Boston Consulting Group, JLL Property Consultants (India) and Knight Frank India.