7th Pay Commission implementation: Govt says amount allocated to manage impact

Speculations are rife as Centre to take decision on 7th Pay Commision report implementation as around 47 lakh Central Government employees working in various sectors await their salary hike, which will have implications for government finances and inflation.

At a time when there are no conclusive increase in the private sector spending yet and the government also losing the benefits of low oil prices, it is facing a tough challenge in keeping up with the spending in public sector.

Reacting to a query, Finance secretary Ashok Lavasa said that a certain amount has been allocated to manage the impact of the pay commission award. But to speculate whether the amount is adequate enough, would be too early and premature.

Sources say, for this fiscal year the provision for hounouring the pay panel’s award is about Rs 54,000 crore whereas the outgo is estimated to be Rs 74,000 crore. Lavasa refused to comment on that saying no one knows as to what extent the government will accept the 7th Pay Commisions report.

Read at: Financial Express