The government had on June 16 last year approved a long-pending proposal to restructure the nearly 200-year-old Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) that operates 41 ammunition and defence equipment production facilities into seven separate corporate entities to improve its accountability, efficiency and competitiveness.

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Six of the seven new defence companies which were operational from October 15 2021, have reported provisional profits during the initial six months of their business, the defence ministry said in a statement. Except for Yantra India Limited (YIL), all other companies have reported provisional profits.

Munitions India Limited (MIL) have reported provisional profits of Rs 28 crore, while Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited (AVANI) reported provisional profits of Rs 33.09 crore. Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited (AWE India); Troop Comforts Limited (TCL); India Optel Limited (IOL) and Gliders India Limited (GIL) have reported provisional profits of Rs 4.84 crore, Rs 26 crore, Rs 60.44 crore and Rs 1.32 crore, respectively. Yantra India Limited reported a provision loss of Rs 111.49 crore.

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The new companies have achieved a turnover of more than Rs 8,400 crore within the first six months, the statement said. This is significant considering the Value of Issue of erstwhile OFB during the previous financial years.

"An amount of Rs 2,765.95 crore has been released to the seven new companies during the current financial year for capital expenditure and equity," it stated.

Congratulating the companies on their exceptional performance, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the companies are scaling new heights and contributing to India’s defence manufacturing.

“It is heartening to note that 6 out of the 7 new defence companies, have reported provisional profits during the initial six months of their business growth,” Singh said in a tweet.

It is heartening to note that 6 out of the 7 new defence companies, have reported provisional profits during the initial six months of their business growth.

These companies are scaling new heights and contributing to India’s defence manufacturing.https://t.co/nyMq2FksQY— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) April 29, 2022

According to the statement, the companies have been able to secure domestic contracts and export orders valuing more than Rs 3,000 crore and Rs 600 crore respectively with Munitions India bagging one of the biggest ever export order of ammunition of Rs 500 crore.

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With focused attention on cost reduction, these companies have been able to make cumulative savings of about 9.48 percent in the areas like overtime and non-production activities during the initial six months itself, it noted.

(Edited by : Priyanka Deshpande)

First Published:Apr 29, 2022 6:54 PM IST