Setting in motion the process for hiking salaries and pensions of nearly 1.2 crore central government employees, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the terms of reference (ToR) for the 8th Pay Commission, setting a deadline for the panel to make recommendations.
The Eighth Pay Commission, as told in the Union Cabinet briefing on Tuesday, will be headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai and will also include two other members.
5 takeaways from 8th Pay Commission update
-Who are part of the Commission: Apart from former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, IIM (Bangalore) Professor Pulak Ghosh will be in the Commission as a part-time member along with Petroleum Secretary Pankaj Jain as the member secretary
-18-month deadline: The panel will have to make recommendations within 18 months of its constitution -- which means the increases will likely be with retrospective effect. The Commission “will make its recommendations within 18 months of the date of its constitution. It may consider, if necessary, sending interim reports on any of the matters as and when the recommendations are finalized,” read a PIB release on the Union Cabinet briefing.
-Expected to take effect from Jan 1, 2026: Usually, the recommendations of the pay commissions are implemented after a gap of every ten years. Going by this trend, the effect of the 8th Central Pay Commission recommendations would normally be expected January 1, 2026. The 7th Pay Commission was constituted in February 2014 and its recommendations were implemented from January 1, 2016.
{{/usCountry}}-Expected to take effect from Jan 1, 2026: Usually, the recommendations of the pay commissions are implemented after a gap of every ten years. Going by this trend, the effect of the 8th Central Pay Commission recommendations would normally be expected January 1, 2026. The 7th Pay Commission was constituted in February 2014 and its recommendations were implemented from January 1, 2016.
{{/usCountry}}-When will hiked salary reflect in bank accounts? The January 1, 2026, expected date of effect for the 8th Pay Commission recommendations does not necessarily mean that the hiked salary will start reflecting in bank accounts from that very day. The deadline for the panel to recommendations ends after 18 months, meaning April of 2027. Even if the panel submits reports before the deadline, it rests on other administrative formalities for the the actual credit. Arrears, however, would be calculated from January 1, 2026.
-By how much will salary rise with 8th Pay Commission hike? The government has not yet released official salary slabs under the 8th Pay Commission, but salaries could rise by up to ₹19,000 per month, according to projections based on a potential fitment factor of 2.86. The fitment factor determines how much salaries and pensions are multiplied under a new pay structure. The 7th Pay Commission (implemented in 2016) had used a 2.57 fitment factor, resulting in a 157 per cent hike and raising the minimum basic pay from ₹7,000 to ₹18,000. Read more on it here.