8th Pay Commission: How salaries increased from 1st to 7th CPC

Currently, central government employees get salaries based on the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, whose term will end on December 31, 2025.

The central government has approved the establishment of the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC) for all central government employees in 2026.

Meanwhile, the dollar index went up 0.22% to its over two-year-high of 109.72, with 10-year US bond yields also remaining high at 4.76% (Representational Image/Pixabay)

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the decision on January 16, 2025, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also wrote about it on X (Formerly Twitter), stating, “We are all proud of the efforts of all Government employees, who work to build a Viksit Bharat. The Cabinet's decision on the 8th Pay Commission will improve quality of life and give a boost to consumption.”

Currently, central government employees get salaries based on the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, whose term will end on December 31, 2025.

There have been seven pay commissions since independence, with the first one introduced in May 1946 and the seventh one introduced in 2014-15. The following table displays a summary of the salaries, according to an Upstox report.

Central Pay Commission	Minimum pay ( ₹)	Maximum pay ( ₹)	Compression ratio
1st	55	2000	36.4
2nd	80	3000	37.5
3rd	196	3500	17.9
4th	750	8000	10.7
5th	2550	26000	10.2
6th	7000	80000	11.4
7th	18000	225000	12.5

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Source: 7th Central Pay Commission Report

The compression ratio here refers to the ratio of the maximum salary drawn by the secretary to the Government of India to the minimum salary drawn by the lowest employee in the central government.

As can be seen from the table above, the biggest jump in salaries came during the 6th Pay Commission, when they jumped by 54%, according to the article, which cited a 2019 report by the Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi.

Also till the 5th Pay Commission, employees generally received salaries based on individual pay scales.

The fourth Pay Commission introduced the concept of running pay scales but in a limited way only for Defence forces.

However, the Sixth CPC recommended using pay bands and grade pay for both civilians and defence forces, but the 7th CPC ended all previous pay bands and grade pay systems, introducing a new pay matrix.

Central Pay Commission	Real increase in pay
2nd	14.20%
3rd	20.60%
4th	27.60%
5th	31%
6th	54%
7th	14.30%

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Source: Pay Commissions: Fiscal Implications, a study by the Institute of Economic Growth in 2019