Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman on December 14 said that the defence ministry is undertaking a major review of the role of ordnance factories. Speaking at Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (FICCI’s) 90th Annual General Meeting, Sitharaman said, “This may be a proper and suitable occasion to say that I am doing a major review of the ordnance factories, to make sure we understand where they are, what is it that they have to be given, are they going to be in a position to be joint venture partners for people trying to benefit from transfer of technology (ToT), so Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) are also being looked into.”

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman at FICCI’s 90th AGM

The government is examining the ordnance factories to explore ways to boost their productivity. There are 41 factories under the OFB and there have been several demands to undertake reforms to improve their productivity and efficiency. Tracing its origin to British India in 1787, the ordnance factories (OFs) are the oldest and largest organisation in India’s defence industry where 41 factories are divided into five verticals, ammunition and explosives; weapons, vehicles and equipment; materials and components; armoured vehicles; and ordnance equipment. The 41 OFs are under the administrative control of the OFB which is under the ministry of defence (MoD’s) department of defence production. In February, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had asked OFBs to furnish a report on their achievement from 2013 onwards. In 2013, OFBs could meet the targets on only 39 per cent of the items required by the Indian defence forces.