Biting the bullet: Big ammo needed, no pressure on cartridge makers

Time of India

05-05-2025

Nagpur: If emergency buttons were pressed at
ordnance factories
like Khamaria and Chandrapur, where larger calibre ammunition and bombs are made, units making bullets continue to operate below capacity.
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There's more scope to scale up the production of small calibre rounds like the 5.56 mm or 7.26 mm, which go into rifles. Even after entirely meeting orders for the armed forces, over 25% of the capacity of these units remains unutilised.
And there's no panic in YIL because it has already dispatched its quarterly quota of cartridges and shells of all types of rounds to Pune-based PSU —
Munitions India Limited
(MIL). Since there is no pending work at Yantra, no emergency measures like cancellation of leaves have been taken, said senior officials here.
Bullets are not required in a full-blown war, said a defence expert.
There is a huge global demand for larger ammunition, especially the 155 mm artillery shells, keeping the machines engaged. However, there are not many exports of the smaller ammunition, even as factories are keen to utilise the idle capacity, said officials here.
The empties are made by
Yantra India Limited
(YIL) and its factories are spread across eight locations.
The small calibre rounds are made in two of the units.
YIL makes empties of a whole gamut of rounds ranging from bullets to artillery, tank shells, and even rockets. These are filled with explosives and finally delivered to the armed forces by Pune-based PSU — Munitions India Limited (MIL). Two factories at Khamaria and Chandrapur, where leaves have been cancelled, come under MIL.
After the corporatisation of the ordnance factories, the process of making ammunition has been split between two independent corporations.
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YIL makes the empties and other mechanical items, and MIL fills them up with explosives to complete the ammunition. As corporations, each of the PSUs has to achieve profitability. As much as 90% of YIL's orders come from MIL.
Yantra India Limited (YIL), which is diversifying into other sectors, has cleared plans to set up an additional unit to make railway axles. The factory is already utilising its capacity to make axles.
The board has approved plans for the new plant, entailing a capital expenditure of Rs 60 crore.