8th Pay Commission: About 50 lakh employees and 65 lakh pensioners of the Central Government have been waiting for the formation of the 8th Pay Commission for a long time. This commission is expected to bring major improvements in the salaries and allowances of employees. In January 2025, the Central Government had announced the formation of the 8th Pay Commission, but its terms of reference and names of members have not been announced yet.
When will the 8th Pay Commission be implemented?
Usually a new pay commission is constituted every 10 years. The 7th Pay Commission was formed in the year 2014 and it was implemented from January 1, 2016. Due to this, the salary of the employees was increased by about 23%. Earlier, the 6th Pay Commission was formed in October 2006 and its suggestions were implemented from January 2006. At that time the salary was increased by about 40%.
If seen on this basis, the recommendations of a pay commission are implemented approximately two years after its formation. Because the 8th Pay Commission has not been officially constituted yet. So according to reports it can be implemented by 2028. However, according to a recent report by Kotak Institutional Equities, the commission’s recommendations may be implemented by the end of 2026 or early 2027.
Preparation for 8th Pay Commission
In July 2025, the Finance Ministry told the Parliament that the Central Government has started work towards accelerating the process of constituting the 8th Pay Commission. For this, advice is being taken from key departments like State Governments, Defense Ministry, Home Ministry and Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
How much will the salary increase?
According to reports, this time the fitment factor can be increased to 1.8 times. Fitment factor is the multiple by which the salary structure is decided by multiplying the existing basic salary. For example, in the 7th Pay Commission, the fitment factor was kept at 2.57x, which led to a huge increase in the basic salary. Now if the fitment factor 1.8x is applied in the 8th Pay Commission, then the minimum salary can increase from Rs 18,000 to around Rs 30,000 per month.