Budget 2026: BSNL allocation jumps over 300% to ₹28,473 crore; telecom outlay up 38%
The finance ministry has also proposed to increase the outlay for the telecom ministry to ₹73,990 crore, mainly due to a significant rise in capital infusion for state-run telecom firm BSNL.
The central government has proposed to allocate ₹28,473 crore to the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in the Union Budget for FY2026-2027 – an increase of ₹21,588 crore. In FY2025-2026, the telecom company received a revised allocation of ₹6,885 crore. The actual proposal when the Budget 2025 was presented was ₹33,757 crore.
The finance ministry has also proposed to increase the outlay for the telecom ministry to ₹73,990 crore, mainly due to a significant rise in capital infusion for state-run telecom firm BSNL.
The allocation has been increased to various projects, including BharatNet, capital requirement of BSNL, including cost of spectrum, network rollout, and to meet internal requirements, Telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told news agency PTI.
“We have seen a very healthy increase in allocation from RE (revised estimate) of last year, ₹53,000 crore on telecom. We have grown to ₹73,000 crore. That's almost 40 per cent,” Scindia said.
When asked about the reason for increased allocation for the telecom ministry, especially BSNL, Scindia said the government is trying to grow BSNL from strength to strength.
The minister said, “I mentioned to you that our ARPU (average revenue per user) grew by almost 9% from ₹90 to almost ₹99. We would like to touch three digits soon.”
“We have grown revenue across the board across all our three verticals, and now we need this injection of CAPEX along with our internal cash flows so that we can take BSNL on its path of resurgence,” Scindia pointed out.
The minister also said that the proposed incremental Budget includes funds for the rural broadband project BharatNet. He also said that allocation has been increased for the development of the North East Region; the revised estimate is ₹6,800 crore – a jump of 50%.
"So there are multiple issues that we're looking at from Bharatnet where the allocation is ₹1,39,000 crore to spectrum for BSNL to its own internal requirements of CAPEX, whether it be towers or be it media or battery, we are trying to fire on all cylinders," Scindia said.
“The North East has seen a tremendous amount of importance given in this budget from urbanization, with 4,000 e-buses to five Buddhist circuits across six states in the Northeast, and a tremendous amount of preponderance and importance given to the areas of health and education,” the minister said.
(With agency inputs)
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