8th Pay Commission News: What will be the minimum salary and minimum pension of central government employees and pensioners after the next pay commission is implemented?
7th Pay Commission News: Central government employees and pensioners are hopeful that the Modi government will timely set up the 8th Pay Commission and implement its recommendations by January 1, 2026. The 7th Pay Commission came into effect on January 1, 2016, revising salaries and pension benefits for over 1 crore central government employees and pensioners.
If we go by the past trends, the Centre has implemented new pay commission recommendations every 10 years and it is expected that this trend will continue with the 8th Pay Commission coming into existence in 2026. But this is still speculative as nowhere it is mentioned in the 7th Pay Commission recommendations that its term will be of 10 years and will come to an end on December 31, 2025.
The government has so far not given any timeline for the setting up of the next pay commission despite receiving couple of representations from employee unions in the last one year. After the recent budget, when asked during a TV interview about the formation of the next pay commission, then Finance Secretary T V Somanathan stated that there is enough time left for its implementation.
What central government employees and pensioners can expect in terms of changes in their emoluments under the 8th Pay Commission.
While shifting from the 6th Pay Commission to 7th Pay Commission, employee unions had demanded a fitment factor of 3.68 for salary revision of employees but the government set the fitment factor at 2.57. The fitment factor is a key multiplier used to calculate salaries and pensions for government employees.
Based on the fitment factor revision, the minimum basic pay for central government employees increased to Rs 18,000 per month, up from Rs 7,000, reflecting a 2.57-fold increase from the previous commission. Likewise, the minimum pension of retirees rose from Rs 3,500 to Rs 9,000. The maximum salary of serving employees was revised to Rs 2,50,000 and the maximum pension was fixed at Rs 1,25,000, taking into consideration the fitment factor of 2.57.
“The pension shall not be less than Rs 9000/- (excluding the element of additional pension to old pensioners) and shall not be more than 50% of the highest pay in Government i.e. Rs 1,25,000/- w.e.f. 01.01.2016…”, said one of the FAQs on pension policy of central civil services.
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Here’s what pensioners can expect in terms of changes in their pension amount under the next commission:
There have been speculations in the media that the government may revise central government employees’ salaries and pensions based on the fitment factor of 3.68. But this was the demand for the 7th Pay Commission, which ultimately set the fitment factor at 2.57. Based on some reports, the pay matrix is most likely to be prepared taking a fitment factor of 1.92 under the 8th Pay Commission.
What will be the minimum salary and minimum pension of employees and pensioners based on 1.92 fitment factor?
The current minimum salary is 18,000, which will possibly be revised to 34,560 with a fitment factor of 1.92. Likewise, the minimum pension might be fixed at Rs 17,280.
