Directorate General Resettlement (DGR), Ministry of Defence

Check you qualify first

• DGR schemes are for ex-servicemen, their widows and their dependants. Check the scheme page for rank, age, service and medical conditions before you register.
• Retired officers can register any day after retirement, and before they turn 59.

How registration works

• Upload three documents together: the release order, the pension payment order (for short service officers) and the veterans ID card (for re-employed officers).
• You get an acknowledgement number first. A DGR board then issues a registration number. Last comes empanelment for the scheme you opted for.
• If you re-register, email the registration desk to delete the old record first.
• JCOs and other ranks register at the nearest Zila Sainik Board.

Choosing a scheme

• Coal Loading and Transportation: for officers who want to form a company, and for JCOs and other ranks who want to own a truck.
• CNG stations: for retired officers. Watch the page for new requisitions and send the willingness format by the last date.
• Mother Dairy and Safal: for JCOs and other ranks in the NCR. Keep your discharge book, pension order and ID card ready.
• Oil product agencies: apply to the oil company when it advertises, and get the DGR eligibility certificate at the same time.

Keep in mind

• Several schemes need a refundable deposit and working capital from you, so plan your own funds. Check the scheme page for the current figures.
• DGR sponsors you. The partner company or oil company makes the final selection.

The Directorate General Resettlement (DGR) is the Ministry of Defence body that helps retiring and retired armed forces personnel start a second career, including a business of their own. It sits under the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare and works from New Delhi. Its schemes are open only to ex-servicemen (ESM), their widows and dependants, so this is a gated programme and not an open call for founders.

What DGR does

About 60,000 service personnel retire or are released every year, many of them while still young. DGR was set up in 1968 to look after their resettlement. It runs resettlement training, keeps a register of ex-servicemen for jobs, runs job fairs with CII and FICCI, and sponsors ex-servicemen for government and corporate business schemes. Three directorates share the work: Training, Employment and Self Employment.

Self-employment schemes

The Self Employment Directorate handles the schemes most relevant to a would-be entrepreneur. Each is run with a partner company, and DGR sponsors or certifies the ex-servicemen who qualify.

Under the Coal Loading and Transportation Scheme, an MoU with Coal India lets five ex-servicemen officers form a private limited company that runs loaders and trucks for a Coal India subsidiary. Truck owners come from JCOs and other ranks, and widows, wards and disabled ex-servicemen are welfare beneficiaries in each company. A company can operate for up to seven years in the subsidiary it is sponsored to, and allotment is first come, first served with a waiting list.

Under the CNG scheme, retired officers registered with DGR are sponsored to Indraprastha Gas Limited in the National Capital Region, and to MNGL for stations in Maharashtra and Karnataka. The operator is contracted on a yearly renewable basis for a maximum of 5 years.

Under the Mother Dairy and Safal scheme, retired JCOs and other ranks can run ready-built milk booths in Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida and Faridabad, and Safal fruit and vegetable shops are open to ex-servicemen, widows and dependants. Selected applicants get free training with Mother Dairy before allotment.

For LPG and petrol-pump distributorships, 8% of the oil companies' distributorships is reserved for armed forces personnel. DGR issues the eligibility certificate that an applicant submits to the oil company, which picks winners by draw of lots. DGR has no say in that draw.

DGR also lists a Jan Aushadhi Kendra scheme for ex-servicemen who want to open a pharmacy, and points to central schemes such as PMEGP.

Training

The Training Directorate sends retiring personnel to courses at institutes such as IIM, MDI and IIFT. Officers can apply in their last two years of service or within three years after release, or up to 60 years, whichever is earlier. Officers pay 40% of the course fee and the government pays 60%. For JCOs and other ranks, the government pays 100% of the fee. The training calendars for the year are posted on the DGR website.

Who can use it

Retired officers register on the DGR portal. JCOs and other ranks register at their nearest Zila Sainik Board. Each scheme has its own rank, age, service and medical conditions, so read the scheme page before you register.

Where to find DGR

The office is at West Block-IV, Rama Krishna Puram, New Delhi 110066. The helpline is open for walk-in visits on weekday afternoons, and empanelment visits are taken on Wednesdays. DGR also has regional Directorate Resettlement Zones for the north, south, east, west and central commands.