Saurabh Kumar takes over leadership of Ordnance Factory Board

Saurabh Kumar took over as the Director General of Ordnance Factories (DGOF) and chairman of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) in Kolkata, a statement said. Kumar, a 1982-batch Indian Ordnance Factory Service officer, is an M-Tech in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, the statement said Monday. An expert in the manufacture of ordnance, Kumar was on deputation to the Ministry of Defence as the director of planning and coordination from 2002 to 2009.

During this period, he was involved in drafting the Indian offset policy for defence purchases and the 'Make' procedure in the Defence Procurement Procedure of 2003-04, which incorporated the recommendations of the Arun Singh Committee, the statement said.

He was also instrumental in piloting the proposals and obtaining the approval of the government for setting up two new greenfield ordnance factories at Nalanda and Korwa in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh respectively, it added. "Kumar, as the general manager of the Engine Factory at Avadi (2012-13) was involved in operationalising the project and initiating an indigenisation programme which culminated in the handing over of fully indigenous engines of T-90 'Bhishma' and T-72 'Ajeya' tanks to the Raksha Mantri in July 2018," the statement added.

(With inputs from agencies.)