The key reasons behind this sudden importance is increased liquidity with approximately 4.5 million government employees due to payment of arrears for 32 months starting from January 2006 and easy access to loans from public sector banks which comes with lower interest rates.

Additionally, going by the statistics, government employees have always emerged as safe borrowers for the banks where the default rate is merely 5 per cent compared to 20 per cent from private sector which is why access to home loan becomes easy for them, says Tanuja Rai Pradhan, national head - research services, Cushman & Wakefield.

Around 10-12 per cent of buyers for our new Ghaziabad projects are government employees. We have been receiving several queries following the announcement of the sixth pay commission recommendations, said Mayank Modi, director, Ashiana Homes.

“We are targeting 10-15 PSUs for our two projects Klassic and Pavilion Court. We are also providing them value addition in terms of customising plans and specifications according to their requirements. Besides, PSUs themselves provide housing loans to their employees at concessional rates,” says Rita Dixit, director, Jaypee group.

According to R K Arora, managing director, Supertech Constructions, the company is tapping both Government servants and PSUs for its affordable housing projects in Greater Noida. It is also planning to come up with a special housing scheme for defence personnel in Meerut.

Many companies are also looking at government contracts to stay afloat. IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects Ltd has secured four orders in the buildings and industrial structures segment totaling Rs 746.26 crore.

One turnkey mandate worth Rs 70.62 crore by Project Implementation Agency, Government of Puducherry, is for creating new habitation for tsunami-affected victims at Kalapet site in Puducherry. The company has also won a Rs 114.35-crore order from City & Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd (Cidco) for construction of Cidco Exhibition Centre including civil, interior and site development works at Vashi in Navi Mumbai.

Omaxe Ltd has got contracts for construction of two modern jails, one in Kapurthala and other in Faridkot (Punjab) with an approximate value of Rs 200 crore and a Rs 300 crore contract to build a hospital in Saharanpur. “We are getting into several projects such as hospitals, roads and power. By end of March we are expecting such projects worth 600 crore,” said Rohtas Goel, CMD, Omaxe Group.

Parsvnath Developers has bagged a Rs 47 crore project to construct the Footwear Design and Development Institute in Fursatganj, Rae Bareli and a Rs 125 crore contract from Buddha Smriti Udhyaan Development Company Ltd. The project is being implemented by Government of Bihar.

Supertech Constructions is planning to bid for several PPP projects with the UP Government such as a highway in Agra, overhead expressway in Modinagar, multilevel car parking in Kaushambi and Vaishali, hospitals in Meerut and ¦ Agra, adds Arora.