The Eighth Central Pay Commission has finished receiving memoranda submissions on June 15 and is now poised to assess requests from central government employees and retirees before issuing its final recommendations. Commencing operations in October 2025 following government approval of its terms of reference, the commission has approximately 10 months left to finalize its proposals. It is anticipated to suggest adjustments to salaries, pensions, and allowances for roughly 55 lakh active central government employees and about 69 lakh pensioners, as per various reports.
Central employee unions and associations have emphasized a higher fitment factor and a significant rise in the minimum basic pay in their memoranda submissions. They have also called for the reinstatement of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in place of the National Pension System (NPS) and enhancements in allowances like HRA, risk pay, bonuses, leave benefits, and other retirement benefits.
The government declared a 2% increase in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) in January 2026, elevating the total rate to 60%. Normally announced twice a year, the dearness allowance effective from July is usually disclosed in September and occasionally in October, based on the All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (AICPI‑IW) data from May and June 2026.
The 8th Pay Commission has already conducted consultations in various regions and engaged with employee associations. It is scheduled to visit Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, and Kolkata by July. The salary hike will depend on the fitment factor adopted by the government, with analysts predicting it to surpass 2.5, while certain employee groups have proposed a fitment factor of 3.15. Fitment factor acts as a multiplier to adjust salaries based on factors like cost of living and inflation, applied to existing basic pay to compute new pay in a pay commission.
