India, July 25 -- After corporatisation, OFB will have to maintain a profit and loss account, which will usher in accountability, increase efficiency, and result in more reliable ammunition and equipment.

At the time of Independence, the Ordnance Factories (OFs) were fulfilling our needs. Besides weapons and ammunition, they also had tie-ups with Germany's MAN and Japan's Nissan to manufacture Shaktiman trucks and Jonga. In fact, as a young officer, I have fond memories of Jonga, a versatile and powerful SUV manufactured in OF Jabalpur, in which I also participated in a high altitude car rally in the mid-1980s. After the 1962 debacle, the Department of Defence Production was set up under the MOD. In the 1965 and 1971 wars, the Ordnance ...