MTNL Bank Loan Default Reaches ₹8,659 Crore in July

State-run telecom firm MTNL's bank loan default stood at ₹8,659 crore at the end of July, a regulatory filing said on Monday.

The loss-making public sector telecom firm's total debt obligations reached ₹34,577 crore as on July 31, 2025, comprising bank loans of ₹8,659.09 crore, sovereign guarantee bond of ₹24,071 crore and a loan for DoT for paying Sovereign Guarantee Bond interest of ₹1,921 crore, according to the filing.

MTNL has defaulted on payment obligation of ₹3,768.37 crore to Union Bank of India, ₹2,455.01 crore to Indian Overseas Bank, ₹1,131.54 crore to Bank of India, ₹478.26 crore to Punjab National Bank, ₹363.43 crore to State Bank of India, ₹276.08 crore to UCO Bank and ₹186.4 crore to Punjab & Sind Bank.

The default in loan payment occurred between August 2024 and February 2025.

The state-run firm had reported a default of ₹8,346.24 crore at the end of March 31, 2025.

Last week, MTNL had disclosed its failure to repay the bond payment due on August 24. The state-owned telecom firm did not disclose the amount.

MTNL in a regulatory filing that its fourth semi-annual interest of 7.61 per cent on MTNL Bond Series VIIIB is due on August 24.

As per the structured payment mechanism of tri-partite agreement (TPA) signed among MTNL, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Beacon Trusteeship Ltd, MTNL has to fund the semi-annual interest into the escrow account maintained in Bank of India with an adequate amount 10 days before the due date, but it could not do so within the stipulated time.

The debt-ridden telecom firm said all bonds issued by MTNL are sovereign-guaranteed bonds by the government and "the Government of India is obliged to make the payment to MTNL for the same".