No bailout package for telecom industry in season of reforms

Ahead of 2019 polls, govt focuses on several big-ticket reforms

Financial stress in promising sectors, especially telecom, has come into prominence at a time when the Narendra Modi government is drawing up a long list of reforms, including mega bank mergers. The government is looking at this year as the last window of opportunity to roll out reforms before the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) goes into election mode, a top bureaucrat told Business Standard.

While the telecom industry’s debt of over Rs 4.5 lakh crore and declining profits of big companies have prompted the government to sit up, it is learnt that there would be no policy intervention or