Government employees have suddenly emerged as a preferred lot for car manufacturers in the country, courtesy the disbursement of revised salaries to central government employees.

Eyeing around Rs 20,000 crore liquidity that would be infused in the system through 32 months? arrears for 55 lakh Central government employees, car majors like Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) and General Motors India have come up with discounts as high as Rs 60,000 to woo this section of the society. Hyundai Motor India, the country’s second largest passenger car manufacturer, is offering discounts ranging between Rs 12,000 and Rs 31,000 across different models and has also tied up with several banks to offer easy finance options to the government employees for their vehicle purchase.

?The offers will be an added incentive for all government employees, who will soon enjoy the benefits of their Sixth Pay Commission arrears, to purchase a car in this festive season,? says Arvind Saxena, senior vice-president (sales and marketing), HMIL.

Even General Motors India has introduced a limited-period, special offer package for all central and state government employees under which the company is offering discounts of Rs 62,000 on Chevrolet Spark and Rs 31,000 on Chevrolet U-VA inclusive of all discounts and special offers already enforced. ?As a part of our ongoing centenary celebrations, this special offer to all central and state government employees will make the vehicles affordable to them,? says Ankush Arora, vice-president (sales and marketing), GM India.

According to Hyundai, the arrears can be utilised as the down payment for purchase of the car and the revised salary increment will help government employees to accommodate their monthly EMIs.

Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largest passenger car manufacture, is running a marketing campaign under which company’s institutional sales officers will work with dealers in state capitals to reach the government employees through enhanced inter-personal communication.

According to a Mumbai-based analyst, the recent move by leading manufacturers will undoubtedly draw higher number of government employees into their showroom but will at the same time help them to clear the inventory.

?There has been a slump in demand over the last few months and consequently huge inventory had piled up with almost all players,?? he says.