Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), a government-owned telecom company in India, has not paid back loans worth over ₹8,300 crore (around $971.5 million) to several banks.
According to a recent filing on the stock exchange, MTNL has missed payments on both the original loan amounts and interest to many public sector banks. These include Union Bank of India, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, UCO Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank, and Indian Overseas Bank. The missed payments were due in March 2025.
Among all, Union Bank of India is the biggest lender and is owed over ₹3,600 crore (more than $425 million). Indian Overseas Bank is owed about $278 million, and Bank of India is owed $119 million.
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These loan accounts were marked as bad loans (non-performing assets) as early as August and September 2024. The latest missed payment was reported in February 2025 for Indian Overseas Bank.
When you add up all of MTNL’s financial commitments — including short and long-term loans, government-backed bonds, and loans from the Department of Telecommunications — the company’s total debt comes close to ₹33,570 crore (around $3.9 billion).
This financial struggle continues even though MTNL has been selling its land and buildings since 2019 to raise money. These asset sales briefly improved its stock price in March. In the same month, the government stated it had no plans to privatize MTNL or BSNL (a larger government telecom company that currently manages MTNL’s operations in Delhi and Mumbai).
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Despite several revival attempts by the government, MTNL is still deep in financial trouble. As the Financial Express puts it, the company “continues to struggle with growing debt while making losses for many years.”
