Telecom and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has brushed aside all talks about the Government wanting to close down State-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL).

“We are doing everything to revive MTNL. A company, which was doing so well a few years back cannot be shut like that. We have no plan to close down MTNL,” Prasad told BusinessLine.

In fact, during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the Minister had said that the Government had no intention of closing down MTNL.

Prasad has been talking about reviving the two telecom PSUs — BSNL and MTNL — since the day he took charge as the Minister.

Reports of MTNL closing down came after Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete informed the Lok Sabha that there were 65 units in the list of sick PSUs as of March 31 last year and the names included Air India, MTNL and Hindustan Shipyard.

The reasons for their sickness include obsolete plants and machinery, heavy interest burden, resource crunch, surplus manpower and shortage of working capital, he had said.

While the PSU major had losses in the previous years, it showed profit of ₹7,820 crore in 2013-14. Shares of MTNL closed at ₹22.35 on the BSE on Thursday, up 6.18 per cent from the previous close.