About Ordnance Factory Board (OFB):
- It is an umbrella body of 41 Ordnance Factories.
- Origin: In 1775, British authorities accepted the establishment of the Board of Ordnance in Fort William, Kolkata. This marked the official beginning of the Army Ordnance in India.
- Nodal Ministry: It is currently a subordinate office of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
- Mandate: It provides a major chunk of the weapon, ammunition, and supplies for Indian armed forces, paramilitary forces, and police forces.
- Headquarters: Kolkata, West Bengal
Dissolution and new structure of OFB:
- 41 factories of OFB across the country will be dissolved into seven new Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSU) which will be 100% owned by the government.
- The non-production units, including the training institutes, controllerates of safety, some regional offices and regional market centers which will come under operational control of the DPSUs.
- These new entities will make products such as:
- Ammunition and Explosives group for the production of ammunition
- Vehicles group for the production of defence mobility and combat vehicles.
- Weapons and equipment group-To make guns of different variety for security forces.
- Troop comfort group- To make uniforms and specialised gears for forces.
- Others include
- All existing OFB employees will be transferred to the new corporate entities on a deemed deputation initially for a period of 2 years without altering their service as central government employees.
