This announcement was made at the company's silver jubilee celebrations held in Chennai on Nov. 25 by R V Rajan, Chairman, Anugrah Madison Advertising. He said: "With the growing importance of rural markets, there is a growing demand for skilled/trained human resources willing to work in the rural areas. Many management institutes across the country have started offering rural marketing as an elective course to the students. But there is a dearth of good faculty who have hands-on experience to provide practical knowledge for teaching the subject. AMRA hopes to bridge this gap." Rajan will be the course director at the academy.

A special feature in this initiative is that the faculty from AMRA will be the top management of Anugrah Madison and a few others with several decades of experience in dealing with rural marketing initiatives. AMRA will conduct the classes at management institutes over weekends, or at the convenience of the institute. AMRA will be responsible for course content, faculty and the evaluation of students based on the assignments given to them. For the initial period, AMRA will offer certificate courses of one, two or three credits, which will be available at institutes in South India.