Ordnance Factory Board To Be Split Into 7 Entities For Defence Manufacturing

The nearly 200-year-old Ordnance Factory Board that operates 41 ammunition and military equipment production facilities will be restructured into seven state-owned corporate entities.

In a major reform initiative, the government today approved a long-pending proposal to restructure the nearly 200-year-old Ordnance Factory Board that operates 41 ammunition and military equipment production facilities into seven state-owned corporate entities to improve its accountability, efficiency and competitiveness. The decision to corporatise the OFB on the lines of defence public sector undertakings was taken at a meeting of the union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, nearly two decades after the reform measure was first mooted to bring professionalism and significantly enhance its productivity, officials said. Describing it as a "historic decision", Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said there will be no change in service conditions of nearly 70,000 employees of the organisation and that the decision is driven by efforts to boost India''s defence manufacturing sector. "It is a big decision that complements India''s national security requirements. It will help in achieving our targets for defence production. There will be no change in service conditions of the employees," he said.