By: Vivek Raghuvanshi
NEW DELHI — India has decided to reduce ammunition imports and instead procure all ammunition requirements from domestic sources.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) under its Make In India initiative is now encouraging the private sector to manufacture ammunition. Previously, only state-owned Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) was permitted to produce ammunition and India’s private sector was only allowed to manufacture parts of ammunition such as the shell or fuse.
A senior Indian Army official said of the new opportunity for the private sector: “It clearly shows that the Army’s requirements are not being totally met by the OFB and import is not an option anymore.”
Under the new policy, the MoD is willing to provide long-term commitments and firm orders of multiple types of ammunition to private players, but only at competitive prices.
“The Indian industry was denied participation in the manufacture of ammunition, as no industrial license was issued for filling process. Thus the monopoly stayed with OFB, whose lack of capacity restricted the demand of the services, gradually leading to deficiencies over the years. It was not that the industry does not have the capability to manufacture with transfer of technology, but they have not taken any concrete action to acquire technology in this regard till now,” a senior MoD official said.
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