8th Pay Commission : Big news for central government employees. Millions of central employees and pensioners are awaiting the announcement of the 8th Pay Commission, which is expected to be announced in January 2025. However, even after several months, the government has neither constituted the committee nor set guidelines for its functioning.
This delay has left many wondering when they will see revised salaries and pensions. The 7th Pay Commission expires in December 2025. Therefore, if the 8th Pay Commission takes time to be implemented, employees and pensioners will receive arrears.
The Union Cabinet approved it in early 2025. However, no notification has yet been issued. Consequently, hopes of its implementation in January 2026 have been dashed. Now, it appears that it may take until 2028 to be implemented.
How much time did it take for the 7th Pay Commission to be implemented?
It was formed in February 2014, and its work guidelines were finalized by March 2014. The Commission submitted its report in November 2015. The government accepted the recommendations in June 2016 and implemented them from January 1, 2016. This means that it took approximately 33 months (2 years and 9 months) from its formation to implementation. This comparison clearly shows that both commissions took an average of 2-3 years.
Based on past trends, these commissions typically take 2-3 years to complete their work. If the 8th Pay Commission is implemented soon, employees will receive the new pay scales only by 2028, although they will receive retrospective payments from January 2026. If implementation takes longer than two years, employees will receive a two-year bonus. Any salary increase will be effective from January 2026, even if the commission is implemented in 2028. This is why employees will receive two years’ arrears. The
8th Pay Commission will benefit more than 5 million central government employees and approximately 6.5 million pensioners. The basic salary of Level 1 central government employees is expected to increase from Rs 18,000 to Rs 44,000. This Pay Commission may implement a fitment factor of 2.46.