No proposal to divest MTNL, BSNL

new delhi: the government on wednesday said there was no specific proposal to divest its stake in telecom giants mtnl and bsnl. "at the moment, there is nothing specific about disinvesting mahanagar telecom nigam and bharat sanchar nigam," telecom secretary shyamal ghosh told reporters on the sidelines of a function held to announce the launch of a mobile internet facility here. ghosh was responding to queries about government offloading equity in the two psus following sale of 25 per cent stake in videsh sanchar nigam to tata group earlier this month. government holds a majority 56.25 per cent equity in mtnl, another 40.87 per cent is held by banks and financial institutions (including seven crore shares held through a global depository receipt). bsnl, which provides both basic and cellular telecom services across the country, will complete its first full financial year on march 31 this year. it was corporatised in october 2000 and government holds 100 per cent of its equity.