8th Pay Commission: About 35 lakh Central Government Employees and 67 lakh pensioners in the country may have to wait a little longer for the 8th Pay Commission 2025! While on one hand there is a heated discussion on how much salary hike and pension increase the new pay commission will recommend, the possibility of delay in its implementation is also gaining momentum.
The recommendations of the 8th Pay Commission are to be implemented from January 2026, but the government has not yet constituted the commission. Employee organizations have urged the government to constitute the commission as soon as possible so that the uncertainty in the minds of employees and pensioners can be removed. Let us know what this delay means and what effect it can have on your salary.
The recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission were received before the date of implementation
Every 10 years a new Pay Commission is constituted for central employees and pensioners and its recommendations are implemented. This is a set process which has been followed for years. The recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission were implemented in January 2016. That commission was constituted in February 2014 and it submitted its report on 19 November 2015.
That is, the report had come before the date of implementation, which gave enough time for preparation. But this time, despite only six months remaining for implementation, neither the commission has been constituted nor its terms of reference have been decided. This situation remains a cause of concern among employees and pensioners.
It takes one and a half to two years for the commission to give its recommendations
According to media reports, senior officials have said that discussions are going on, but given its slow pace, it is believed that it will not be possible to implement it from January 1, 2026. History so far shows that every commission has taken one and a half to two years to give its recommendations. It takes a lot of time for the commission to collect data, talk to various stakeholders, and do in-depth analysis.
If the 8th Pay Commission also moves at the same pace (8th Pay Commission Delay), then its recommendations will be implemented only at the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027. This will be a significant financial delay for the employees.
Fitment Factor
The most important among the recommendations of the Pay Commission is the ‘Fitment Factor’. This is the coefficient by which the old basic salary of an employee is multiplied to determine his new basic salary.
The Seventh Pay Commission had fixed the fitment factor at 2.57. Then the minimum salary increased from ₹ 7,000 to ₹ 18,000.
Employee organizations and other experts are estimating that this time the fitment factor can be between 2.5 to 2.86. On this basis, the minimum salary will be between ₹ 40 thousand to ₹ 45 thousand.
If the fitment factor is fixed at 2.86, then the minimum basic salary will become ₹ 51 thousand, which will be a significant increase.
At the time of the Sixth Pay Commission, the fitment factor was fixed at 1.86 and the basic salary increased from ₹ 2,750 to ₹ 7,000.