This year, the vacancies of around 2,300 officers would be filled in training academies including the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun and in Chennai, senior Army officials said here.
The Army is facing a shortage of 12,349 officers against its sanctioned strength of around 46,500 officers and is also looking to increase the number of officers to meet the new security requirements on both fronts. The Army has a total strength of 1.3 million.
If such a trend continues, the Army would be able to meet the shortfall in the next few years, they said.
As another step in this direction, Army is also going to start a new training academy in Gaya in Bihar on July 18 which will have capacity to train 700 officers in a year.
Over the years, officials said, it was observed that shortfall of officers was among non-technical wings such as the infantry, artillery and armoured corps.
"Now all those candidates who clear Services Selection Board (SSB) process and are not getting through in the technical branches are being given the option of joining non-technical arms and this arrangement is working very well," they said. .
Defence Minister A K Antony had recently stated that the shortfall was partly attributed to attrition from time to time, tough selection procedures, difficult service conditions coupled with perceived high degree of risk involved in recruitment and training.
A number of steps have been taken by the Government to attract youth to join the armed forces, which include increase in tenure of Short Service Commission (SSC) officers from 10 to 14 years and increasing promotional avenues for officers.
As part of its efforts to provide more promotional avenues for the Permanent Commission officers, the armed forces have also decided to increase the intake of SSC officers.