Intercorp, an e-commerce company, delivers its products to the consumers through its Direct Delivery Task Force (DDTF). It is the DDTF that develops a one-to-one relationship with the customers. ``People tend to trust an ex-serviceman more than anybody when dealing with salespersons. For this reason, all our DDTF members are recruited from the list of persons recommendedby the army resettlement organisation based in R K Puram, Delhi,'' says he.

Integrity is the hallmark of army personnel. ``Every army personnel has a discharge book that details the physical fitness, professional accomplishments, character assessment and other achievements of the person during his tenure in the armed forces. We go through these details before shortlisting the candidates for our DDTF. Invariably, we select more thanthe target number as we find most candidates highly suited to our business environment,'' he says.

Interestingly, this document is kept on the personnel even after retirement. It works as an identity card and a virtual passbook for them in their post-retirement phase. ``Such details also help us keep a check on our workforce, and would be extremely useful in checking any misdemenor from our personnel,'' he adds.

So far, the ex-servicemen have maintained an impeccable record at Intercorp. ``The attrition rate of our ex-servicemen personnel is nearly zero. In fact, theirpresence in the organisation has had a positive impact on our other employees as well,'' he says.

Intercorp has 41 ex-servicemen on its rolls. This could go up to 150 within the next 2-3 years when the company expands its operations to all major metros in the country.

DDTF is not the only place where ex-servicemen find employment. ``Logistics and stores are also areas where army personnel excel. Army personnel are strong on logistics.

This is a great asset for a company like ours that handles more than 100 products,'' says Shrivastav.

``Besides, ex-service personnel are found highly suitable in administrative functions, personnel management, security and any other function that demands a high degree of reliability.''

Nearly 30 per cent of Intercorp's staff strength comprises ex-servicemen. Even fields of administration, supply, procurement and storage of various products including handling of godowns is managed by ex-servicemen from the Army supply corps and ordinance.

``At Intercorp, we lay agreat deal of emphasis on the well-being of our people. Our ex-service employees are beneficiaries of all the welfare benefits that are extended to all our employees. When we prepare their pay-packet, we do not look at the pension they get from the government. We pay them full salaries, irrespective of what they get from the government. As a result, many of our ex-service employees at the lower grades are also income-tax payees,'' says Shrivastav.

The Director-General Resettlment at R K Puram in Delhi provides of list of candidates who would occupy the appropriate slots in Intercorp's organisational set-up. If it is for an engineering function, the candidates would be drawn from the EME Corps. If it is for the salesforce, the shortlisted candidates would be from the infantry.

Intercorp places its ex-service employees with special qualities in the `X' grade. The `X' grade employees cannot be removed from the company by anybody, except the CEO. ``This is one of the ways we protect our ex-service employeesfrom biased decisions, if any, made by the middle-level supervisors,'' he says.

Intercorp has not recruited people from the para-military background as organisations like the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Border Security Force (BSF) do not have a re-settlement organisation that can provide a comprehensive list of candidates for specific jobs in the private sector.