VSNL stake: It’s Tatas vs Reliance

NEW DELHI: Two of India's largest industrial groups, Reliance and Tatas, said on Friday they had put in price bids for VSNL, taking the race to acquire control of the state-run telecoms giant into its final lap.

The government, which is selling a 25 percent stake in Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd along with management control, had set a Friday deadline for receiving price bids and it plans to announce the name of the winner on February 5.

"We have put in our bid," a spokesman for Tata Industries, a company leading the group's bid for VSNL, told Reuters. A Reliance official also confirmed that the group had submitted its financial bid.

The two groups were among three contenders to buy VSNL. The third, a consortium of India's Sterling Ltd and U.S. firms TyCom Ltd and Century Tel withdrew from the race on Friday.

The privatisation of VSNL, a monopoly overseas telecommunications carrier and one of India's largest Internet access providers, is billed as the nation's most ambitious selloff in a decade of economic reforms.

The government plans to bring down its holding in the New York Stock Exchange-listed VSNL to 26 percent from 52.97 percent. Besides the 25 percent to the strategic partner, it plans to sell 1.97 percent to the company's employees.

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