State-owned telecom company MTNL has defaulted on the interest payment for sovereign guarantee-backed bonds worth Rs 6,100 crore, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing.

In November 2022, MTNL had issued 5,000 government-guaranteed, unsecured, rated, listed, redeemable, non-convertible, and taxable debentures, aggregating to ?6,109.6 crore.

Under the terms of the Tri-Partite Agreement (TPA) signed between MTNL, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), and Beacon Trusteeship, the company is required to deposit the semi-annual interest amount into an escrow account at least 10 days prior to the due date. MTNL failed to meet this requirement as per the stipulated norms.