EPFO dials BSNL, MTNL to acquire offices, land and buildings for expansion

India's largest retirement fund is ramping up its physical infrastructure to keep pace with its fast-growing membership base

The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is looking to acquire offices, lands and buildings from government-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), as part of its strategy to expand its capital infrastructure to keep pace with its growing subscriber base. 

The retirement fund body discussed the issue at length in its latest central board of trustees (CBT) meeting held on February 28, with its chairman, Union Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya stating that “efforts should be made at the secretary level with the department of telecommunications (DOT) for acquiring BSNL/MTNL lands/buildings in govt-to-govt mode.” 

In response to a written query from Business Standard last week, the EPFO said it has been augmenting its infrastructure by procuring or leasing land parcels and buildings from central, state governments and their undertakings, and is actively engaged with both BSNL and MTNL for acquiring land and/or buildings at suitable locations.  

“In continuation of EPFO’s efforts and to implement directions of the chairman, the central provident fund commissioner (CPFC) has approached the secretary, department of telecommunications to designate a suitable officer from the ministry, MTNL, or BSNL for better coordination at head quarter level with the chief engineer, EPFO. This collaboration aims to compile a comprehensive inventory of MTNL/BSNL suitable land and buildings available for sale/lease and enhance coordination to expedite such initiatives,” it added. 

As reported earlier by Business Standard, BSNL has listed 5,208 separate vacant land and building assets across the country for sale and renting out, apart from another 536 upcoming properties for sale.  

Earlier in March, the Union Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar had informed the Lok Sabha that BSNL and MTNL had earned ₹2,387 crore and ₹2,134 crore up to January 2025 from monetisation of lands and buildings.  

The latest move by the EPFO is part of a five-year perspective plan that was adopted by the CBT in March 2023. The plan entails upgrading the social security organisation’s physical infrastructure to cater to the growing subscriber base which is expected to jump to 100 million subscribers from the present level of nearly 70 million.  

Under the five-year perspective plan,  EPFO plans to have its own buildings for all offices as opposed to the current practice of using hired premises. 

 A total of 21 zonal offices and 52 regional offices are supposed to be constructed between 2023-24 to 2027-28. This is estimated to cost the EPFO ₹2250 crore, over and above ₹750 crore being currently spent on land acquisition and construction of some buildings including regional building offices in Gujarat and some other states.  

EPFO currently has 283 offices across the country, including 21 zonal offices, 138 regional offices, 117 district offices, and six training institutes besides its headquarters in Delhi. Of these, 118 offices are in EPFO’s own buildings while 165 are on rented premises. 

“[The] Chairman remarked that the timely completion of capital projects is essential as it has been generally observed that it becomes very difficult to complete the projects which are delayed by more than 3 years due to cost overruns and price escalation,” the minutes of the February 28 CBT meeting conveyed.