Initiative by Ordnance Factory Board

[amitgzb]

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INDIAN ORDNANCE FACTORIES
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
lOA, S.K.BOSE ROAD
KOLKATA 700 001, INDIA
.,
No. Exp/ROEI
Dated: 03.09.2012

Invitation for Expression of Interest
for co-production, transfer of technology, development and joint venture for Sporting
Arms and Ammunition

01. Indian Ordnance Factories, Ministry of Defence, Government of India is engaged
in manufacture of small arms and ammunition for use by the Indian Armed Forces. Non-prohibited
bore Arms and Ammunition (as per Indian Arms Act, 1959) for use by Civilians are also under
production.Therange includes .22" Sporting Rifle,.22" Revolver, .32" Pistol, .32" Revolver, 0.315"
Sporting Rifle,30-06 Sporting Rifle,and 12 bore Pump Action Gun.

02. Indian Ordnance Factories is a conglomerate of 1argenumber of state-of-the-art
facilities with diverse technologies. Detailed information is available on its website
httD:/Iofb.Rov.in.

03. Proposalsare Invitedfrom leadingand reputedOEMsfor collaborationIn the
production of state-of-the art Arms and Ammunition(non-prohibited bore). The collabo~atlon
model could be Joint Venture, Co-production, Research & Development, Tr~nsfer of Technology
etc. to cater for fast expanding Indian Domestic and Overseas markets.
1

04. Interested OEMs are requested to submit their propo~al with suppo'rting
documents covering (i) Brand/product portfolio (ii) Products (with specificf\tions) on offer for
collaboration (Hi) Collaboration model (iv)Markets/Regions which shall be open for export (v)'Any
other aspect relevant to the proposal.

05. This invitation to Expr~ssion of Interest is without any commitment at this stage.
Interested OEMs may submit their Iproposal at the following address or through mai"l at
[email protected] latest by 31.10.2012. -:

The Secretary
(Attn: ~hri Sanjay Chawla, DDG/ICE)
Ordnarce Factory Board
IDA,S~K.Bose Road
Kolkata- 700 001, India

[Katana]

No body in their right frame of mind would partner them in a JV!Better to sell them a design or rights to manufacture a particular line of equipment.

[Bhargav]

I would say this is a positive move. The quality of IOF arms will only increase collaborating with others

Plus I believe it would be a good opportunity for other manufacturers to tap into the Indian markets.

[Vikram]

Like Bhargav, I too think that this is a right step.At least the stagnated pool of ideas will see some fresh inputs and may also result in some decent models for the public.

Thank you,Amitgzb, for sharing this here.


Best-
Vikram

[captrakshitsharma]

Nice one a little ray of hope for the Indian firearm buyer.

[winnie_the_pooh]

There is an inertia built into almost every system.Nothing happens unless some one pushes for it.Hopefully something positive will materialize in the near future....or maybe I am reading too much into this....maybe not.

I agree,a positive development. Two interesting things

One is the reference to the export market and

Two is the reference to manufacture of arm AND ammunition.

I do not think there is a market for .32 calibre pistols and revolvers internationally.

[jonahpach]

IOF is going to find it difficult to find a foreign partner who has experience in manufacturing only 'Non-prohibited
bore Arms and Ammunition' Hah!

[Bhargav]

There is an inertia built into almost every system.Nothing happens unless some one pushes for it.Hopefully something positive will materialize in the near future....or maybe I am reading too much into this....maybe not.

I agree,a positive development. Two interesting things

One is the reference to the export market and

Two is the reference to manufacture of arm AND ammunition.

I do not think there is a market for .32 calibre pistols and revolvers internationally.

I agree that international market is not huge as far as 32acp goes but there are many collectors who owe this caliber. There are some very good manufactures on the international market who make 32 pistols. Walther and CZ are some of them.

Plus if international collaboration does not reduce the price then it would atleast improve the quality.

[jonahpach]

They cant even cater properly to the domestic market why do they take pains and worry about export market? Does it take an awful amount of thinking matter to realise that India is the worlds biggest civillian arms market after china? Well, if 'export potential' and all that is just a ruse to say that "we are completely incompetent to develop relatively modern firearms with innovative designs and want a foreign partner to increase and improve our product range" then I guess its ok.

[Bhargav]

They cant even cater properly to the domestic market why do they take pains and worry about export market? Does it take an awful amount of thinking matter to realise that India is the worlds biggest civillian arms market after china? Well, if 'export potential' and all that is just a ruse to say that "we are completely incompetent to develop relatively modern firearms with innovative designs and want a foreign partner to increase and improve our product range" then I guess its ok.

I believe its the initiative to invite foreign expertise for technical collaboration, I don't think its any export stint.

Well, I only care about breaking the monopoly and if you cannot break the monopoly then at least improve the quality. I believe this initiative will improve the quality and the common people will be able to use high quality arms and ammunition and it would be a "bigger bang" for the buck

I am surprised that all these big private giants have not yet put their hands in the cookie jar. Reliance.. and many other.. who are not into arms manufacturing, why they haven't explored this avenue yet? I don't think they have any financial issues... neither they have any issues with political connection..

[miroflex]

Hi all,

I believe Beretta have been actively pursuing a proposal to manufacture arms in India. I am not aware of the current status of their proposal. Perhaps the present invitation for expression of interest by IOFB is a result of Beretta's initiative. That means that other manufacturers are also likely to come forward as Beretta are not likely to be left as the only players in the field.

Regards.

[Biren]

Invitation for Expression of Interest
for co-production, transfer of technology, development and joint venture for Sporting
Arms and Ammunition

03. Proposalsare Invitedfrom leadingand reputedOEMsfor collaborationIn the
production of state-of-the art Arms and Ammunition(non-prohibited bore). The collabo~atlon
model could be Joint Venture, Co-production, Research & Development, Tr~nsfer of Technology
etc. to cater for fast expanding Indian Domestic and Overseas markets.
1

05. This invitation to Expr~ssion of Interest is without any commitment at this stage.
Interested OEMs may submit their Iproposal at the following address or through mai"l at
[email protected] latest by 31.10.2012. -:

This is a interesting development. Gov knows it cannt for long keep interntional arms manufacturers from huge lucarative domestic market, though it may not agree products churn out by IOF are shoddy. This way it can have control over market as well appease international masters. This moves definetly to caters to domestic civilians population as IOF wont be able to sell the products in international market at rates it is used to chagre.

Cheers
Biren

[surajshuresh]

well something positive going on here atleast lets see where it goes... It does not matter if IOF gets a good design or JV also they have long history in arms manufacturing the problem is how the company is run, managed and operated. They dont focus on many key business principals which are the key for the business to survive in the market like R&D, quality control, customer service, marketing etc. since they are the baap of the Indian arms market and they are here only to chunk out arms the Indian defense on order of the Indian government. We civilians are like substitutes in cricket they are keeping us in the game for name sake... If IOF does all this then they only can export arms to other countries rather than buying from others which is a very bad idea...

[surajshuresh]

I would rather support import of firearms for civilans than this IOF initiative which dont not change anything in the game...

[miroflex]

In the case manufacturing facilities are set up and managed by the foreign collaborator, it would take care of many issues. A parallel can be found in the case of Maruti Suzuki.

Regards.