BSNL planning to allocate more employees towards enterprise business

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is considering deploying 4 per cent of its 54,000 employees towards strengthening enterprise services, Financial Express (FE) reported, citing company sources. As things stand, 1.8 per cent of BSNL's workforce is engaged in enterprise services.

The decision to increase human resources in the enterprise business comes at a time when BSNL has registered a dip in revenue in the segment in the last two quarters. BSNL's revenue from the enterprise segment declined by 50 per cent and reached Rs 952 crore in the July-September quarter, from Rs 1,906 crore in the same January-March quarter of the financial year 2022-23, the FE report said citing data from the company's financial statements.

In the first six months of the ongoing financial year, until September, BSNL's enterprise business revenue was down 10 per cent year-on-year and reached Rs 2,007 crore, the report said.

In a recent letter to chief general managers (CGMs) of all the circles, the CMD of BSNL, PK Purwar said, "Enterprise business is one of the highest potential revenue earning segments of BSNL. To keep it in mind, it has regularly been emphasised that posting sufficient staff in EB (enterprise business) field with business acumen will surely play a crucial role and help in increasing BSNL's enterprise business," as stated in the FE report.

CMD Purwar asked all circle heads of BSNL to work towards relationship building with customers to ensure growth in enterprise business. The circle heads have been asked to take required actions in terms of allocating more staff for the enterprise business segment, by the end of December 2023, the FE report added.

What is the current employee strength of BSNL's enterprise business segment?

BSNL had a total of 54,113 employees across the country. However, the enterprise segment had only 1.8 per cent, or 977 employees, as of September 30, 2023. Highlighting the shortage of staff in the enterprise segment, CMD Purwar wrote in his letter, "Even some of the circles have enterprise business staff strength less than the BSNL average that is 1.8%. Such a scenario may be detrimental in achieving the desired results in the enterprise business segment."

Contribution of enterprise segment in BSNL's business

According to the FE report, the enterprise segment contributes about 24 per cent to BSNL's overall revenue. Enterprise business is the second-largest in terms of size for BSNL, after cellular services which contributes 42 per cent to the company's total revenue.