Earlier, inter-company movement was strictly restricted to just the top managers and was decided solely by the chairman. The policy is part of the strategy to tap the best talent from within and getting them acquainted with the diverse businesses that the group is in.

Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said: "Our internal recruitment policy is another innovative step to garner talent from within for senior positions. Units now have the leeway to advertise for positions vacant within the group as well. Our desire is to ensure that existing top potential from within the group is fully tapped."

A similar move of inter-company transfers has also been initiated within the Tata group recently which will now groom its Tata Administrative Services (TAS) cadres to take up important positions invarious group companies.

Aditya Birla group officials said the move will also help retain the best talent within the group. "Often we found that certain mangers were looking for jobs outside the group when they felt stifled in a particular group company or felt they did not have the right growth opportunity there."

Henceforth, they added, a company where there is a vacancy can advertise for the positions internally first, and interested managers can apply for the positions directly to the group human resources development (HRD) head Santrupt Mishra.

Mishra and the division heads (where the positions lie vacant) will be directly responsible for recruitment. The applicants will also not have to go through the process of getting a `no-objection certificate' from their companies.

The group has also, for the first time, laid down a set of corporate principles and a formal code of ethics that employees working for the group has to voluntarily comply with.

In case of violation of the code, aggrievedemployees can lodge formal complaints with the unit heads or a Birla Management Centre (BMC) director, or if action is not taken soon enough, directly to the group chairman.

As part of a move to make the group leaner, it is at present in the process of de-layering the organisational structure. While it has around 13 layers, group sources said that it is being brought down to around six.

To attract fresh talent, chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla himself has made a round of the leading business schools across the country.

The Aditya Birla group, with the 1997-98 turnover at Rs 20,000 crore and asset base of Rs 18,000 crore, employs around 140,000 employees at its 60 units in India, south-east Asia, Middle East, Africa, the Americas and Europe. Of these, around 90,000 are employed in India.