Bangalore: Aiming at enlarging the technical capabilities, Bharat Electronics (BEL), an Indian Government owned manufacturing company of electronic products for defense service, is planning to add 400 more engineers during the current financial year.

Earlier, BEL had added 435 employees in 2007-08 and with the new inclusion BEL's total workforce is expected to go past 12,800. ML Shanmukh, Director, Human Resource, BEL told Business Standard, "To compete with global firms, we should have the right talent. The challenge before us is to recruit and retain right talent within the constraints faced by a PSU and also create value. In this direction, we have reworked our hiring strategy and going around the campuses to recruit fresh talent."

BEL spent almost 15.38 percent of its annual turnover (Rs.633 crore) as manpower cost and the company is now offering an entry level salary package of Rs. 5 lakh to its technical staff which is comparable to the salaries offered by technology companies to the freshers.

"We are able to attract and retain good people by paying them handsome package, six months of on-job training and other facilities such as food, uniform among others. By adopting this strategy, we have been able to bring down the rate of attrition from 5.10 per cent in 2005-06 to 4.80 percent in 2007-08,"added Shanmukh.

To retain key technical personnel BEL has initiated programs like deputing important engineers for management training at reputed institutes such as Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, International Management Institute, Delhi, and Project Management Institute in Bangalore.

Moreover, about 100 key engineers of the company are undergoing project management training at the Bangalore centre of Project Management Institute (PMI), an American institution offering certifications. For PMI training the company is spending about Rs. 33,000 per engineer.