The 7th Pay
Commission is likely to raise the salaries of government employees by up to 40
per cent, said Neelkanth Mishra, India equity strategist of Credit Suisse. The
Pay Commission will submit its recommendations in October and it will be
implemented by next year.
"As
the Pay Commission numbers come through there could be a 30-40 per cent
increase for each individual. It won't be as big as last time because it was
driven by a lot of arrears but definitely a large number of government
employees will come into the pay bracket which can afford to have, for example,
four-wheelers," he said in an interview with NDTV. (Watch the full
interview)
Credit
Suisse says about one-third of India's middle class is employed by the
government and as the 7th Pay Commission comes through, there will be an
improvement in discretionary spending.
"In
Tier 3, Tier 4 towns where government employees are 50-60 per cent of the
middle class, it is very likely that real estate markets will take off
again," Mr Mishra said.
Once
the Pay Commission submits its recommendations in October, it will take 3-6
months for the Centre and the states to announce its implementation, Credit
Suisse said.
Gujarat
and Madhya Pradesh have already indicated that they are going to implement the
7th Pay Commission recommendations from January 1, 2016, he said.
As
clarity emerges on the 7th Pay Commission, consumption will see an uptick and
that could act as a stimulus to the economy, the brokerage said.
However,
Mr Mishra struck a note of caution. "Clearly if you see a third or 35 per
cent of your middle class getting a 40 per cent or 30 per cent jump in
compensation in one shot, the fears of inflation will rise." Expectations
of rate cuts can get pushed out and some possible fiscal pressures can emerge,
he warned.