15th Largest Telecom Company sold for a song

India's disinvesment process is bringing into focus the idiosyncracies of telecommunications sector and Indian polity. This can be gathered from the decision of the government of India's decision to sell 74 per cent stake in Hindustan Teleprinters Limited (HTL), the 15th largest company according to V&D 100 survey for a meagre amount of Rs 55 crore.

The survey had pegged HTL's revenue for 2000-2001 at Rs 525 crore. HTL is a leading telecom equipment manufacturer in the country which manufactues EWSD large digital switching exchanges, C-DoT switching exchanges and Main Distribution Frames account for the bulk of its revenues. Rudimentary to HTL's success was its ability to diversify its product portfolio.