Rural manager

ALTERNATIVE CAREER: Institutes like IRMA and XIM are riding on the agri-business wave as companies go rural.

With business giants like Reliance Industries, ITC group and Bharati, venturing into agri-business, the demand for rural management professionals has shot up like never before.

Companies have already started approaching agricultural universities and colleges in rural areas to recruit students. Students with vanilla skills are trained in the management aspect of business and put on the job. General MBA graduates too are being picked up and given a crash course in agri-business.

A basic understanding of the rural system, adaptability in varied situations, skills to develop local strategies of marketing using local resources, and communication and leadership skills are some of the requirements corporates look for in a rural management graduate.

Xavier Institute offers a post-graduate diploma in rural management (PGPRM). The Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA)offers a doctoral level programme called the Fellow Programme in Rural Management (FPRM) and Post-Graduate Programme in Rural Management (PRM). IRMA which was started to meet the demand of rural managers in the cooperative sector has placed 40 per cent of its students in the banking sector, 30 per cent students in NGOs, 25 per cent in the cooperative sector and five per cent in the rural insurance sector.

Rural management comprises three sectors "� agri-business, rural finance / general insurance and development sector (NGOs). While a graduate in agri-business management can draw between Rs 4-8 lakh per annum, salaries in the finance sector vary from Rs 5.5-10 lakh per annum. In the NGO sector, the salary varies from Rs 3-6 lakh.

Says Niraj Kumar, associate professor, rural management, Xavier Institute of Management-Bhubaneshwar, "At the current level, in five years of time, it is expected that demand supply ratio would be 10:1. A booming economy, WTO effect, and innovation in rural development and marketing may drive it further."

"Agri business contributes around 35 per cent to our GDP and 10 years down the line will see a northward trend. There is a dearth of talent no doubt but what is lacking is quality. Corporates are poaching from the cooperative sector," says Debi Prasad Mishra, professor, strategic management, IRMA.

"We expect a 30-40 per cent hike next year. We run management development programmes (MDPs) for executives working in agri-business, banks and development sectors. Our students are working with companies like, Dow Chemicals, Monsanto, Cargill, Syngenta, Lintas India, Citi Finance. Among the international organisations, our students are working with UNICEF, Greenpeace and Action Aid," says Kumar.