The government is considering a Rs 74,000-crore bailout plan for the bleeding state-owned telecom companies BSNL and MTNL. BSNL is the country’s biggest loss-making PSU (estimated Rs 13,804 crore in FY19), while MTNL was third with a loss of Rs 3,398 crore. Only Air India has a higher loss than MTNL. If the package goes through, the two telecom PSUs will overtake AI as the biggest drain on the national exchequer.