India Falls Short Of Tanks And Artillery Ammunition

India faces serious shortage of ammunition especially for tanks and artillery and has stocks enough for only 10 days of war.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had noted in May this year that stocks of 125 out of 170 kinds of ammunition or, to put it differently, 74 per cent of the total stocks are not enough for even 20 days of a shooting war.

Stocks of 85 types of ammo or 50 per cent of the total, especially for tanks and artillery are in stock for only 10 days of a war.

Defense Minister, Manohar Parrikar, told Parliament Thursday that a Second Five Year Ammunition Roll-On indent for the period 2014-19 has been placed with the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).

"A road map on ammunition has been approved which envisages procurement ex-import and ex-trade to build up adequate targeted stocks in addition to training requirement."

The minister also informed the members of Parliament that, "An institutionalized mechanism in the form of Working Group has been set up to review critical items."

Ammunition with recurring large annual training requirement with high cost has been intimated to Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and the OFBs for indigenous development.

The government auditor had noted that the ammunition for training is being hoarded at the cost of efficiency and skills development of the soldiers, are being used in case of emergencies like war.

Inability of the ordnance factories to supply the ammo to the Indian Army was also pointed out in the report.