Senior official E.R. Sheikh assumed charge as the first director general of the Ordnance Directorate (Coordination and Services), the newly-created entity to replace the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).

An Indian Ordnance Factory Service (IOFS) officer of the 1984 batch, Sheikh served in various ordnance factories and is credited for setting up a modern production line for the manufacture of small arms and ammunition at Varangaon.

The OFB will stand dissolved with effect from October 1 and its assets, employees and management are being transferred to seven newly-set up defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs).

Ordnance Factory Board

• Ordnance factories in India are one of the oldest and largest industrial setup which functions under Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) with the objective of achieving self-reliance in equipping the Armed Forces with state-of-the-art battlefield equipment.

• The first ordnance factory, now known as the ‘Gun and Shell Factory’ at Cossipore in Kolkata was established in 1801. 

• There were 18 ordnance factories in India before the country’s Independence in 1947. 

• The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) came into existence on April 2, 1979 in Kolkata.

• OFB was functioning under the administrative control of the department of defence production of the ministry of defence.

• Indian ordnance factories, headquartered at Kolkata, is a conglomerate of 41 factories, 9 training institutes, 3 regional marketing centres and 4 regional controllers of safety.

• They are engaged in the production of a range of arms, ammunition, equipment, clothing, etc primarily for the Armed Forces of the country. 

• Army places demand on OFB for supply of the items and subsequently, OFB fixes production targets to the factories to fulfill the demand of Army.

• Every year, March 18 is celebrated as Ordnance Factories Day in India.

Restructuring of the OFB

• In a major reform initiative, the Union Cabinet on June 16 approved a long-pending proposal to restructure the over-200-year-old OFB. 

• The assets, employees and management of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) are being transferred to seven newly established defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs).

The name of the seven defence PSUs are:

• Munition India Ltd

• Armoured Vehicles Nigam Ltd

• Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Ltd

• Troop Comforts Ltd

• Yantra India Ltd

• India Optel Ltd

• Gliders India Ltd.

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has clarified that there will be no change in service conditions of nearly 70,000 employees of the organisation and the decision to corporatise the OFB is driven by efforts to boost India’s defence manufacturing sector.

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