Shut down MTNL

The government’s inability to take hard decisions on time has come back to haunt it. More than two decades back, it had toyed with the idea of merging state-owned telecom services firms MTNL and BSNL. However, this was never pushed to its logical conclusion. The other plan was also never pursued seriously: that of allowing MTNL to expand beyond Delhi and Mumbai. A stitch in time saves nine but in this case the wounds were left to bleed endlessly. Years of indifference have led to State Bank of India declaring MTNL’s account as a non-performing asset.