The Hindu Business Line : Ordnance Board gets nod to do business with pvt cos, PSUs

The Ministry of Defence has allowed Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) to offer idle manufacturing capacity of some of its factories to private and public sector companies.

This paves the way for many non-Defence sector companies to outsource a portion of critical raw material and equipment from ordnance factories.

This also marks the beginning of the process of transforming at least some ordnance factories into joint ventures.

OFB, which falls under direct administrative control of the Ministry, owns a total of 39 factories in the country, producing a diverse range of products - from arms and ammunition to clothing and leather goods. The day-to-day operation of these factories comes under the purview of the Indian Ordnance Factories.

Sources said that a few MoUs have already been signed between OFB and private and public sector companies (such as the Tatas and SAIL) for mutual utilisation of technology and production capacity available with them. The Tatas and SAIL have almost finalised their outsourcing plans.

It is believed that the Tata Group is likely to utilise the manufacturing facility available at OFB's vehicle and truck factories while SAIL reportedly intends to utilise the forging plant's facilities available at OFB's Ischapore Gun & Shell factory in West Bengal.

Meanwhile, the Medak unit of Indian Ordnance Factories has started manufacturing mine-protected vehicles (MPVs) aimed at addressing the threat of terrorist activities and provide safety to the personnel against landmines.

The hull of the vehicle built with high-strength alloy armour steel offers protection against small arms and can withstand mine blast of 10 kg TNT power.