Careers in Purchasing Management

Purchasing of material is an important organizational function. Purchasing of material may vary from organisation to organisation but each and every organisation or institution has a purchasing department that manages the overall purchasing function. The material purchased may be furniture, building materials, tool and machineries, stationary, gadget or gizmos, food processing material, metals and minerals and many more. Purchase not only includes tangible goods but also various services available in the market. These purchasing departments are run under a purchasing manager, who is responsible for adequate and in-time purchase of all required material for the organisation. While purchasing materials, purchase manager must take care of economic-efficiency and quality of goods and service so procured.

Course Details
PG Diploma and Certificate courses are offered in Purchasing Management. The course duration may differ from institute to institute. However most of these courses are of short duration ranging from 6-18 months. Normally graduation is the minimum qualification for admission into these courses which may vary at times, according to the specific requirement of the institute concerned. Some distance learning courses are also offered in purchasing management.

Career Prospects
Almost each and every organisation has a purchasing department. However, the size of the department depends upon the size of the organisation and nature of its work. Thus purchase managers have wide spectrum of employment opportunities in public as well as private sector. Purchase managers can seek employment in government departments, agencies and PSUs. Industries, corporate house, banks, financial organisation, business and trading corporations all require the service of purchase managers. These professionals also have options in media, entertainment and fashion industries. Tourism, travel and hospitality industries also throw a lot of career options for purchasing managers. Telecom and IT sector providing various services also employ purchasing managers to run the purchasing department.

Top Colleges Offering UG/PG/Other Courses
Indian Institute of Materials Management is a premier institute in India offering Certificate/PG Diploma courses in purchasing management. This institute has branches at Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Chennai, Goa, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Delhi, Pune and Vadodara.

Remuneration
Earning of a purchase manager varies from industries to industries. Salary also depends upon individual skill, qualification, experience, nature of job, location and nature of the employer. However, generally purchase managers have monthly salary of Rs 20,000-25,000 at the starting stage. With the gaining of experiences his pay package is bound to move upward.