UPSC Articles
Dissolution of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB)
Part of: Prelims and GS-III – Defence and security
Context The Defence Ministry has issued an order for the dissolution of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) with effect from October 1 2021 upon which its assets, employees and management would be transferred to seven newly constituted defence public sector undertakings (DPSUs).
Key takeaways
- Once implemented, the OFB will cease to exist.
- There will be no change in service conditions of the employees.
- On June 16, the Union Cabinet had approved a long-awaited reform plan to corporatise the OFB, which has 41 factories, into seven fully government-owned corporate entities on the lines of DPSUs.
- Benefits
- Make the country self-sufficient in defence manufacturing
- Transform the ordnance factories into productive and profitable assets,
- Deepened specialisation in the product range
- Enhanced competitiveness
- Improved quality
- Help in overcoming various existing shortcomings like eliminating inefficient supply chains
About Ordnance Factory Board
- Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), consisted of the Indian Ordnance Factories.
- It was an organisation, under the control of department of defence production (DDP), Ministry of Defence (MoD), Government of India.
- It was engaged in research, development, production, testing, marketing and logistics of a product range in the areas of air, land and sea systems.
- OFB was the world’s largest government-operated production organisation, and the oldest organisation in India.
