"DoT has agreed to treat non-officer voluntary retirement optees of ITI and Hindustan Teleprinters Ltd (HTL) of Chennai and retiring employees of DoT for allotment of this facility as an additional incentive. The DoT decision to extend the facilities will help ITI to encourage its employees to opt for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS)," an ITI official said.

Company officials said that DoT had also set certain conditions to avail of the facility. Under the plan, one of the eligibility criteria is that the non-officer should have retired under VRS effective September 1, 1998.

The second condition is that the age of the employee at the time of voluntary retirement should not be more than 55 years and he should have put in a minimum of 20 years ofservice in ITI. The voluntary retirees should put in the application in the prescribed format for the PCO allotment with the local telecom authority.

ITI officials said the company's latest VRS, which opened on August 17, closed on Friday. Though the response from the employees across the country has been overwhelming, ITI is unlikely to extend the date.

The company had expected around 700 employees to 800 employees to subscribe this year under the new voluntary retirement scheme. Officials, however, declined to reveal the exact number of employees who opted for VRS. During 1997-98 the number of manpower stood at about 24,550.

Since the introduction of the first VRS in 1991, the payout towards the scheme involved amounts to Rs 83.25 crore as on March 31, 1998 of which only Rs 39 crore has been received by ITI from the National Renewal Fund (NRF). ITI has spent Rs 49.78 crore from its internal accruals which is yet to receive from the National Renewal Fund. Officials said moves were on to restructure thecompany's businesses. ITI is likely to appoint an international consultant for the purpose. "ITI has initiated talks with a number of leading players to finalise the revamping exercise," officials added.

The company has set an internal target of Rs 1,800 crore for the current fiscal and MoU target of Rs 1,500 crore. To achieve the goal, the company is looking at modernising its existing manufacturing facilities. For the purpose it has earmarked around Rs 94 crore, which will be met by internal resources. In addition to this, ITI will be adding six new technologies this fiscal.