New Delhi: The New Year may usher in loads of cheers for job seekers, as companies are likely to hire up to 10 lakh employees and dole out pay hikes in the range of 10-15 per cent to high-performers, say experts.

As per the estimates of human resource consultants, hiring will definitely see an uptrend in 2013, as compared to 2012, as most economies are coming out of slowdown and the demand from domestic as well as international markets would create many job opportunities.

According to industry estimates, India saw nearly 7 lakh jobs being created in 2012, despite economic uncertainties, and the projections for the New Year vary between a minimum of 5-6 lank to more than 10 lakh.

"The New Year would be good for job seekers with expected 1 million plus jobs in the country. 2012 was not good either for job seekers or for employers due to several issues, including economic conditions," MyHiringClub.com CEO Rajesh Kumar said.

After remaining mostly stagnant in 2012 due to global economic slowdown, Indian job market is expected to grow only at a modest pace next year, although still better than other countries.

"It is expected that more than 5-6 lakh new job creation will happen across the industry verticals including retail, infrastructure, healthcare, power and energy, banking, logistics will be the major contributors," executive search company GlobalHunt India Managing Director Sunil Goel said.

With regards to salary, the average hike for most of the sectors is expected in single digits as part of cost-saving efforts, even though companies would be doling out 10-15 per cent pay increments to good performers.

Manpower India Managing Director A G Rao believes that companies would not hesitate to pay a salary hike of 10-15 per cent to performers, but at the same time some will remain very objective and cost cautious due to the economic scenario.

"In the coming year, companies will continue following a 'cautious approach'. The hiring will take place and we will observe more activity around "critical hires". The focus will be on retaining; managing and developing key talent," Monster.com (India/Middle East/Southeast Asia) Managing Director Sanjay Modi said.

The public sector could emerge as the major ground for any large-scale hirings, especially banks, even as recruitment activities in human capital intensive sectors like technology, as also for functions like sales and marketing in other sectors, would track the macro-economic developments.

The hiring numbers for public sector banks are expected in the range of 50,000 to 70,000 people in 2013, while the private sector banking space could also see a fair amount of such activities if licenses are given to new players.

"Hiring in the private sector financial market had taken a beating over the last couple of years and this might prompt them to lose their conservative approach and create more opportunities," Indian Staffing Federation Vice-President Rituparna Chakraborty said.

According to ApnaCircle.com Founder and CEO Yogesh Bansal "there is a lot of scope in the traditional top hiring sectors like information technology (IT), retail, healthcare, education, banking, financial services, insurance and energy as well as talent based professions like: art, fashion and entertainment."