The state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), is likely to slip into the red in 2003-04 following the rejection of its plea for licence fees and spectrum charges reimbursement by the Union Cabinet.
BSNL officials said the company was expecting a total revenue of Rs 24,000 crore for 2003-04, while its projected expenditure including depreciation, salary bill, interest payment etc, would be around Rs 20,000 crore.
Bulk of this will have to be used for paying licence fees and spectrum charges which, according to officials, will be around Rs 3,000-Rs 3,200 crore for the current year along with another Rs 1,000 crore as pension outgo. This would wipe out the surplus entirely.
Chairman and managing director Prithipal Singh said,