Corporates hire defence officers from IIMs - Course aims to help them into business world

By Harsha Pramod @ Friday, July 11, 2008 10:16 AM

Section - Business/Financials

Corporates are hiring defence officers from various branches of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) through campus recruitment.

A certificate course in business administration for defence officers was launched in IIM-Ahmedabad in 2006 and was extended to IITs in Lucknow, Bangalore, Calcutta, Indore and Jamshedpur due to overwhelming response. Officers from the army, navy and air force, with experience in different fields such as logistics, human resources and policy planning, have various specialisations in the course to choose from. The programme was initiated with the aim of facilitating a smooth transition for defence officers into the corporate world.

Nearly 60 officers are enrolled in each batch. The course fee is Rs 130,000 ($3,033) of which the applicant will pay 40 per cent with the rest being borne by the defence ministry. The course covers three terms, the first two being general compulsory courses, and the last term covering specialisation.

According to an army officer who completed the course at IIT-Indore, corporates including Satyam, L&T, ICICI, Tata Chemicals and many others took part in campus recruitment. According to the officer, they were offered an average of Rs 1 million ($23,362) to Rs 1.1 million ($25,706) p.a. by the corporates. Some of the officers were offered around Rs 1.8 million ($42,073) to Rs 2.1 million ($49,085) p.a. The younger officers are reported to have fared better, as they got nearly 100 per cent placement following campus recruitment. X