The government conducted its talks with BSNL Employees’ Union to gain their confidence over the company’s IPO plans. Union Communications Minister A Raja represented the government.

“This is the first time I am talking to the BSNL union on the issue of listing after its board took a decision on the same last week. We have explained to the union on how the IPO will benefit the company,” Communications Minister A Raja said after meeting the workers. 

The government has given stock options to the employees during the talks but the union did not favor it. Rather, the employee union is not interested in the ESOP package offered by the board and don’t want any IPO in BSNL. The BSNL employees’ union General Secretary V N Namboodiri said that, “We are not convinced with their argument that the IPO is beneficial for BSNL’s growth.”

Meanwhile BSNL Chairman Kuldeep Goyal said that no timeframe has been announced as to when the IPO will take place.