DGR Security Agency Scheme

What is the DGR Security Agency Scheme?

The DGR Security Agency Scheme is a self-employment scheme of the Directorate General Resettlement, an attached office of the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Ministry of Defence. Under the scheme, an ex-serviceman runs a private security agency and DGR sponsors that agency to government offices, public sector undertakings, banks, corporates and educational institutions that need security cover.

According to the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, the scheme is a stop-gap arrangement for ex-servicemen passing through resettlement after retirement from the armed forces. A way to earn until meaningful and respectful employment becomes available, and to keep the veteran occupied and contributing to society.

The commercial basis of the scheme is an instruction to central public sector undertakings and enterprises to take security cover from DGR-sponsored agencies, issued by the Department of Public Enterprises vide OM No. 6/22/93-GL-15-DPE (SC/ST) dated 1 February 1994, as amended from time to time.

Key objectives

• Give ex-servicemen an immediate source of earning after early retirement.
• Supply cost-effective, disciplined security services to CPSUs and government bodies.
• Make sponsorship transparent through online registration and published state-wise lists.

Main features

• Two categories of empanelled agencies; individual ex-servicemen and State Government owned ESM Corporations.
• Registration, empanelment and sponsorship are handled entirely by DGR.
• Governed by DESW office memoranda: OM No. 28(3)/2012-D(Res-1) dated 9 July 2012, as amended by OM No. 28(3)/2012(Res-1) dated 16 January 2013, and the Security Agency Guidelines dated 13 May 2021.
• DGR empanelled ESM security services are also available as a service category on the GeM portal.

Who is eligible for the DGR Security Agency Scheme?

You can apply if:

• You are a retired officer of the Indian armed forces registered with DGR. According to the DGR online registration process page, officers may register any day after retirement but before attaining 59 years of age, and do not have to wait for a re-employment tenure to end.
• You are on re-employment and still within that age limit: DGR explicitly allows ESM (Officers) on re-employment to register.
• You are a retired MNS officer: DGR states that all retired Military Nursing Service officers can avail DGR schemes and register through the DGR website, and that all schemes are open to them.
• You are a State Government owned ESM Corporation, which is the second category of agency eligible for DGR sponsorship.

You cannot apply if:

• You are a civilian with no ex-servicemen status. The scheme is closed to the general public. A private security company promoter who never served is not eligible for DGR empanelment or sponsorship.
• You are still serving. Sponsorship follows retirement and submission of the empanelment papers.
• You have been dismissed from service on disciplinary grounds.
• You have already availed another DGR resettlement or self-employment benefit, the DGR schemes are designed so that a veteran draws one benefit, and an affidavit to that effect is required.
• You are past the age limit at which DGR accepts registration for officers.

Junior commissioned officers and other ranks are not empanelled as individual agencies under this scheme. They are the people such agencies employ as security guards, and separately they can register with DGR for JCO/OR training courses and employment assistance.

What documents are required for DGR empanelment?

DGR specifies that each uploaded file must be under 2 MB and that file names must use alphabets only, with no special characters. If the three mandatory documents are not uploaded simultaneously, the system-generated acknowledgement number is auto-cancelled during verification and the officer must register again.

How to apply for the DGR Security Agency Scheme

1. Open dgrindia.gov.in and choose Register as New User under the Registration menu, selecting the Officers category.
2. Upload the three mandatory documents together. The release order (all pages), the PPO (or Gratuity Order for Short Service officers), and the Veterans Identity Card (or CSD card if you are re-employed). The system generates a 5-digit acknowledgement number.
3. Wait for Step 2 — issue of a registration number by DGR, which follows an internal Board of Officers. Your seniority runs from the date of registration.
4. Apply for Step 3 to empanelment under the Security Agency Scheme, and submit the documents listed on the DGR empanelment page along with the affidavit in the revised Appendix B format, on stamp paper attested by a notary public.
5. Obtain the statutory approvals your agency needs before it can operate, the PSARA licence from the state government, the labour licence, and EPF and GST registration as covered by DGR's advisories.
6. Collect your empanelment certificate after submitting the documents DGR lists for that purpose, and confirm your entry in the state-wise status list published on the security agency page.
7. Wait for sponsorship. Principal employers send their requirement to DGR in the prescribed requisition format, and DGR sponsors empanelled agencies against those requisitions.

If you need to re-register, DGR asks you to email regndgr@desw.gov.in requesting deletion of the previous record, quoting your name, rank, acknowledgement number, mobile number and the email ID used earlier.

How do government offices hire a DGR empanelled agency?

Principal employers; central public sector undertakings, public sector enterprises, banks, corporates and educational institutions; project their security requirement to DGR in the requisition performa published on the DGR website, and DGR sponsors an empanelled agency against it. DGR publishes an Appendix F requisition form for PSUs and an Appendix G award of contract format, along with advice and instructions for principal employers and proprietors on its Guidelines and Important Advisories page.

Separately, DGR empanelled ESM security services have been launched as a service category on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), which lets government buyers procure the service through the GeM portal. DGR has issued an advisory on GeM covering this route.

What obligations does an empanelled agency carry?

• State licensing. The agency must hold a licence under the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act for the state where it operates. DGR has published a separate advisory on the PSARA issue.
• Statutory registrations. DGR's advisory dated 25 July 2025 deals specifically with EPF and GST registration of empanelled security agencies.
• Wages. Guards must be paid as per the DGR wage notification, which is revised periodically. Notifications from 1 April 2021 through the latest, effective 1 April 2026, are published on the DGR website.
• Service charges. DGR has issued a clarification on service charges under the Security Agency Scheme, which sets the basis on which an agency may charge the principal employer over and above wages.
• Truthful affidavit. A false affidavit makes the applicant liable to cancellation of registration and sponsorship, and to criminal prosecution for breach of trust.
• Returns. State ESM Corporations file a half-yearly return in the Appendix H format prescribed by DGR.

Where to check status and guidelines

DGR publishes a state-wise status of security agencies and a status of empanelled ESM Corporations on the security agency page, plus a Status of ESM Registered Officers page under the Registration menu. All governing documents. The 2012 and 2013 MoD office memoranda, the 13 May 2021 guidelines, the June 2021 corrigendum, appendices A to H and the wage notifications; sit on the Guidelines and Important Advisories page.

Help and contacts

• Directorate of Employment (Security Agency), DGR: 011-20862565, security3dgr@desw.gov.in
• Security policy matters: sapolicydgr@desw.gov.in
• ESM registration (Officers): 011-20862192, regndgr@desw.gov.in
• DGR visiting hours: Monday to Friday 1400h to 1630h, Wednesday 1000h to 1600h, with lunch 1300h to 1400h
• Portal: dgrindia.gov.in: registration, empanelment status and all advisories

Registration and empanelment with DGR are done directly by the retired officer on the DGR portal. No agent or middleman is involved in either sponsorship or seniority, which is determined only by the date of registration with DGR.