How To Join OTA Chennai As Indian Army Officer

OTA (Officers Training Academy) transforms young graduates into commissioned officers with excellent military knowledge, leadership skills, morals, and ethics. OTA is the gateway to the Army, which trained the young minds to fight and win for the country. The OTA course is of 49-week that prepares graduates for all branches of the Army, except for the Army Medical Corps. The first academy is Established in 1963 located in Alandur, a southern neighborhood of Chennai. 

A new academy was set up at Gaya in 2011. The academy has given various real war heroes like “Maj. Ramaswamy Parameshwaran” (Param Vir Chakra). The OTA is located on a sprawling campus of 637.65 acres, bifurcated by the River Adyar. In 1992, OTA became the first and the only PCTA to train and commission the lady cadets in the Indian Army. OTA not only gives training to Indian cadets apart from Indian cadets, the academy Trains officers from Friendly Foreign Countries as part of the Indian Technical and Educational Co-operation (ITEC) Programme. Countries like Sri Lanka, Uganda, Lesotho, Seychelles, Jamaica, Fiji, Tonga, and Afghanistan trained at OTA. In this article, we discuss the various ways to join OTA.

CDS Exam

Men and Women can join OTA Chennai for SSC Non-Technical Branch through Combined Defense Services Exam held twice a year. As per the latest notification of CDS, eligibility criteria for male candidates includes the age limit between 19-25 years, and unmarried for women candidate age limit is between 19-25 years and Unmarried Women, issueless widows who have not remarried, and issueless divorcees (in possession of divorce documents) who have not remarried are eligible. The CDS exam comprises of two papers General Awareness and English. 

SSC-Tech

Men and women who are technical graduates can join through SSC-Tech Entries. An individual isn’t required to face the written exam, and the shortlisting of applications is done based on the cut-off percentage of the qualifying exam, i.e., engineering. The notification comes twice a year, and the age limit is 27 years.

NCC Special Entry Scheme

Male and female Graduates with LLB / LLM with 50% Aggregate marks, 2 years service in NCC Senior Div. Army with minimum ‘B’ Grade in ‘C’ Certificate are eligible to apply for this entry. After that, an individual is going to face SSB, medical, and merit.

Read More: What is NCC Entry in Indian Army

Judge Advocate Entry

Law Graduates can apply for this entry. Male and Female Graduates with LLB / LLM with 55% marks. Registered with Bar Council of India / State are eligible. This is also a direct entry and individual shortlisted according to their percentage they have scored in their graduation after shortlisting, 5 days SSB and then medical &merit afterward an individual get a chance to join OTA.  

We hope you will get an idea about how to join OTA, so keep your josh high and always be prepared. Stay safe and stay healthy.