The buildings owned by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) are spacious with high quality construction, adequate parking space and locations along main road. BSNL Nagpur has been proactive in renting out its buildings and has generated annual revenue of Rs 7.5 crore through this. Till now, it was giving the premises on rent only to Government companies. Now it has changed its policy a bit and allowed private operators to open their offices in BSNL premises. While BSNL prefers to rent out its buildings to Central/ State Government and their PSUs, banks, insurance companies, etc., it also allows the reputed private organisations with turnover over Rs 5 crore for the accommodation on rent. BSNL normally prefers renting on long term basis i.e. minimum 3 years. However, short-term renting is also considered on case-to-case basis.

 

By the end of this fiscal year, BSNL Nagpur has targeted over Rs 10 crore revenue through premises renting. Offices of Income Tax, Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra, LIC and HPCL are located in BSNL buildings while CGST, SGST, Central Bank of India and a few reputed private establishments have identified BSNL buildings for locating their offices. Explaining as to how BSNL started renting with its premises owned by itself, Yash Panhekar, Principal General Manager, Nagpur district told ‘The Hitavada’, “With new technology coming in, large assets of BSNL started getting vacant, particularly land and buildings.

 

During 2020, BSNL released a Comprehensive Renting Out Policy (CROP 2020) under which it decided to rent out spare building spaces, including residential accommodations. BSNL owns more than 15,000 land parcels across the country, having various types of buildings viz. administrative office buildings, technical buildings, staff quarters, training centres, store godown, guest houses, etc.” By now, BSNL Nagpur has rented out its buildings at prominent locations at Civil Lines, Itwari, VNIT area, Saoner, etc. BSNL Nagpur is earning revenue in crores by renting out its buildings and soon expects to significantly increase it. BSNL has been the backbone of Indian telecom for over 75 years. It was carved out as PSU on January 1, 2000 after the earlier telecom operations being handled by Department of Telecom (DOT) were transferred to BSNL. It is constantly trying to upgrade itself to stay in the fierce competition among various telephone companies. The evolution thereafter witnessed mechanical, electro-mechanical, electronic, circuit switching to current packet network technologies. The newer technology needs minimum space, infra and manpower due to tremendous advancement in electronics and computer technologies, added Panhekar.