Advertisment

No returns; TCIL gets govt nod to exit BHL

author-image
CIOL Bureau
Updated On
New Update

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today gave nod to Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL) to exit the telecom joint venture Bharti Hexacom Ltd. (BHL) by selling its entire 30 per cent equity stake in the latter.

Advertisment

"The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs accorded, in principle, approval to the proposal of DoT regarding exit of TCIL from the joint venture on the condition that it should be done at the right time to obtain the best price," Home Minister P Chidambaram said.

TCIL has neither been receiving any return on its investment in BHL owned by Sunil Mittal group, nor has any effective say in the company.

Though TCIL sought dividends pay out while adopting annual accounts every year, this was not agreed to by the Bharti Group on the ground that BHL, which is owned by Sunil Mittal group, was using all its internal generations for expansion of network to keep pace with the intense competition in the market, said an official press release.

Advertisment

Another proposal from TCIL to list BHL, so that the former could exit at the buoyant prices of mobile companies prevalent in India, also had got rejected. The reason cited by Bharti Group was that their flagship company, Bharti Airtel Ltd, is already listed and as such their policy does not permit subsidiaries being listed.

TCIL was setup in 1978 under the administrative control of DoT, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, as a wholly owned Government undertaking for providing Indian Telecom expertise to friendly developing countries.

It was in 1995 that TCIL incorporated a joint venture company named 'Hexacom India Ltd' (HIL) to enter cellular services for diversifying its operations. BHL operates in Rajasthan and North East circles.

The move comes after the government, on August 20, decided to increase TCIL's equity in Tamil Nadu Telecommunications Ltd (TTL) to 49 per cent, - from Rs 6.95 crore to Rs 22.38 crore.as part of a revival plan for TTL.

tech-news