OFB eyes more foreign collaboration

The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) of India, the largest defence equipment manufacturer under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence, is eyeing more foreign collaboration with global engineering giants for technology upgradation, equipment sharing and marketing activity.

Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference organised by the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sudipta Ghosh, DGOF & chairman, OFB said “ We are looking at more collaborations. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been recently signed with Israeli Military Industries for another five years beginning April 1, which entails sharing of technology and equipments on a 50:50 percent basis. There are a host of other collaborations and offset agreements with some global companies in the pipeline, which will fetch us big orders.”

OFB is looking at more MoUs with global engineering giants like L&T, Ashok Leyland, Telco etc in a bid to expand its reach and global footprint.

It was likely to sign an MoU with L&T for export of its products to other countries through L&T distribution network, soon, a kind of marketing activity for OFB, said Ghosh. Of OFB's total sale at present almost 76 per cent goes to Indian army, 18.6 per cent to the civil market, 3.1 per cent to Air Force and 2.3 per cent to Navy. In the last 3 years, OFB designed almost 50 new defence equipments, of which 15 products are in the production stage.

This year also OFB plans to bring in some couple of new products in the market, some of it are under development or trial stage with the defence bodies. The company has already handed over 50 mine protected vehicles (MPVs) to the Ministry of Home Affairs and 15 MPVs to the army.