The Indian PSU telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has decided to scrap its 93-million line GSM contract worth Rs. 35,000 crore. The state-owned company has been losing its market share real fast owing to the limited capacity and this tender was expecting to get a much desired boost from what would have been the world's largest telecom equipment contract.

The Central Vigilance Commission has advised to scrap this contract after it found irregularities in the tender. CVC has taken cue from the disqualification of bidders like Nokia Siemens, ZTE and Alcatel Lucent claiming that due to the lower competition the price quoted may be higher. Sweden's Ericsson, Chinese network-gear maker Huawei and HCL Infosystems were in the run for the contract.

While a committee led by Sam Pitroda as an advisor to the Prime Minister on public information, infrastructure and innovation has submitted is 15-point action on the recovery of the telecom company. The Pitroda committee has also endorsed CVC's decision of scrapping the tender.

Recently, the committee proposed that 1/3rd of the total workforce of the company should either be retired or be transferred while almost 30% of the total stake should be divested.