Communications Minister Arun Shourie on Thursday asked state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd to make the optimum use of its huge cash reserves and aggressively explore foreign markets, with a view to become a flagship company for India.

"All of us feel that it (MTNL) has to reinvest itself. It must acquire contracts abroad and become an important agent for India," Shourie said on the sidelines of the India-ASEAN Business Summit jointly organised by Confederation of Indian Industry and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi.

MTNL, in association with Telecommunication Consultants of India Ltd has already bagged a contract to set up telecom network in Nepal, Shourie said adding, "I will inaugurate this on September 10."

He said there was also a possibility of MTNL and TCIL joint venture bagging such contracts in Mauritius and Kenya.

"MTNL has cash or cash-like reserves worth Rs 1800 crore (Rs 18 billion) and an overall Rs 8000 crore (Rs 80 billion) which can be put in use for such purposes," he said.

Asked whether the government was still considering a proposal for transferring certain lucurative circles from Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd to MTNL, Shourie said, "Government is not ruling out anything."

He said that measures should be taken so that it does not have any adverse impact on BSNL.

On the latest Cabinet approval on a financial package for BSNL, Shourie said, "in the absence of such financial assistance, BSNL's profit would have reduced to about Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion)."