BSNL to open VRS window on Monday; October salary not credited, yet

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is slated to accept applications for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) starting from Monday, even as the public sector unit (PSU) defaulted on October salaries. BSNL plans to offer VRS to employees above 50 years of age and expects at least 80,000 personnel to avail it.

“The 30-day VRS window opens on Monday, and the management and unions have requested employees eligible for it to submit applications. Under the proposed VRS formula, employees will get 100-125 per cent of the salary for remaining years of service, including pension, based on the retiring month wage,” a source close to the development told BusinessLine.

Read also: BSNL revival plans better than earlier proposals: Employees’ union

“It would take at least three months to implement the VRS,” the source said, adding the implementation of the scheme will not affect the company’s services.

BSNL was expecting a likely savings of about ₹7,500 crore in case 80,000 employees opt for VRS. BSNL employs nearly 1.59 lakh personnel as of date, of which nearly 1.06 lakh are aged above 50 (eligible for VRS). The company’s employee costs stood at ₹14,492 crore in 2018-19.

In case the VRS turns out to be a success, then the PSU might not reduce the retirement age to 58.

Retirement age

The proposal under the revival plan was to slash the retirement age to 58 from the present 60 after the implementation of VRS.

As part of the revival package, the Centre will direct all government departments and State governments to take BSNL landline and broadband connections. As and when 4G rollout happens, BSNL mobile services also will become mandatory for government departments, another source said.

BSNL is also making it mandatory for its own officers and staff to use a BSNL connection.

Salary delay

Separately, the company has defaulted on October salary, which was to be credited on Thursday. This time also the salary is expected with a 15-20 days delay.

“The salary delay will continue for another 3-4 months, and till the revival package is in place and other issues including the VRS are ironed out,” another source said.

BSNL has also launched a new scheme offering 6 paise cashback for voice calls. The scheme, a festival offer, is limited to wireline, broadband and Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) customers. Subscribers making calls of 5 minutes or more would be credited with 6 paisa cashback.

Meanwhile, both BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) received Department of Telecommunications approval for their revival plans. The letter dated October 29, approved reducing employee costs, administrative allotment of spectrum for 4G services, debt restructuring through bonds, monetisation of assets and merger of BSNL and MTNL.

VRS Scheme to close on December 3

The online windows for the VRS scheme will close at 5.30 pm on December 3, 2019. Employees, who are not sure of applying for the scheme, have also been given the option to decide it later, according to an internal circular issued by BSNL.

The effective date of this scheme – BSNL Voluntary Retirement Scheme-2019 - will be January 31, 2020, it said.

The scheme aims at optimising and right-sizing of human resources of BSNL by providing attractive benefits to the eligible employees opting for voluntarily retiring before the normal date of superannuation, the circular added.