Online Common Entrance Exam for Army Recruitment as Agniveer and Other Categories

The Indian Army has transformed the procedure for recruitment of Agniveers, Junior Commissioned Officers and other categories with the introduction of Computer Based Online Common Entrance Exam as the first step.  The Online Common Entrance Exam for eligible registered candidates was successfully held between 17 to 26 Apr 2023 in 375 centres pan India out of which 13 exam centres were in Karnataka.

The online exams were conducted with assistance from Education Consultancy Services India Limited, a Mini Ratna Company under the Ministry of Education in corroboration with TCS (Tata Consultancy Service) who provided the technical support.

The technological threshold of youth in the nation has improved significantly and with enhanced network connectivity and the proliferation of smart phones, the youth is now empowered to undertake an online exam instead of travelling long distances to appear for physical exams.  The changed methodology ensured an increased focus on the cognitive aspect during selection and prevent chances of malpractice.  It had wider outreach across the country and also will reduce the large crowds seen during recruitment rallies to make them more manageable & easier to conduct.

The new recruitment procedure will be carried out in three stages.  In stage one, all candidates who had registered and applied online on www.joinindianarmy.nic.in have now undergone Online Common Entrance Exam.  In stage two, the shortlisted candidates will be called for recruitment rallies from June 2023 onwards in phases at location decided by respective Army Recruitment Office where they will undergo Physical Fitness Test and Physical Measurement Test.  Finally, in Stage three the selected candidates will undergo a Medical Test.  Thereafter, the final merit list of the successful candidates will be declared.

The modified recruitment system will make the recruitment process more streamlined, transparent and is designed to optimally exploit the latest IT infrastructure available in the nation.

The candidates who appeared for the online exam were appreciative of the new procedure in terms of the flexibility to choose the centre of their own choosing and ease of appearing in the online exam.