8th Pay Commission- There is a big update revealed regarding 8th Pay Commission. The government may soon give good news to central employees and pensioners. Actually, there is news that the 8th Pay Commission can be constituted by May 2025. Let us tell you that the central government has given its approval to the most awaited 8th Pay Commission, but the official formation of the panel is still pending.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said last month that the new commission would be constituted soon. In such a situation, according to media reports, the 8th Pay Commission can be constituted by May 2025. According to the report, once the panel is constituted, it will start functioning immediately. This is expected to lead to a huge hike in both salary and pension. Due to this delay, about 36 lakh central government employees and pensioners are waiting impatiently.
It is expected that the government will constitute the panel by the end of May, which will give enough time to implement its recommendations before the term of the current pay commission ends on January 1, 2026.
What will be the panel of 8th Pay Commission like?
If we look at the previous pay commissions, each panel was headed by a chairman – usually a retired Supreme Court judge or a senior bureaucrat. Along with him, the team usually includes economists and experts on government expenditure, pensions and allowances. The main purpose of such a team is to suggest to the government how much the pay and pension should be increased, and how the dearness allowance (DA) and fitment factor should be determined.
As per estimates, the 8th Pay Commission may propose a pay hike of 40% to 50% for central employees and pensioners. This will be based on the revised fitment factor, which could be between 2.28 and 2.86. If the upper limit is approved, an employee with a basic pay of Rs 20,000 could get a salary between Rs 46,600 and Rs 57,200. The history of pay commissions shows a steady increase in salaries. During the 5th Pay Commission, the basic salary was Rs 2,750. This rose to Rs 7,000 under the 6th Commission and to Rs 18,000 under the 7th Commission, representing an overall increase of about 554%.
The main factor in determining the new pay structure will be the fitment factor. In the 7th Pay Commission it was fixed at 2.57. If the 8th Commission recommends to increase it to 2.86, the basic pay could increase by up to 186%. However, there has been no official confirmation from the government about the final figures.