8th Pay Commission: How salaries increased from 1st to 7th CPC

The central government has approved the establishment of the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC) for all central government employees in 2026.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced the decision on January 16, 2025, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also wrote about it on X (Formerly Twitter), stating, “We are all proud of the efforts of all Government employees, who work to build a Viksit Bharat. The Cabinet’s decision on the 8th Pay Commission will improve quality of life and give a boost to consumption.”

Also Read: Donald Trump’s meme coin soars on his first day in office, lifts up other cryptocurrencies

Currently, central government employees get salaries based on the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, whose term will end on December 31, 2025.

Also Read: Zomato shares fall over 10% after Blinkit investment strains profit margin

How salaries have increased from the 1st Pay Commission onwards

There have been seven pay commissions since independence, with the first one introduced in May 1946 and the seventh one introduced in 2014-15. The following table displays a summary of the salaries, according to an Upstox report.

Source: 7th Central Pay Commission Report

The compression ratio here refers to the ratio of the maximum salary drawn by the secretary to the Government of India to the minimum salary drawn by the lowest employee in the central government.

As can be seen from the table above, the biggest jump in salaries came during the 6th Pay Commission, when they jumped by 54%, according to the article, which cited a 2019 report by the Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi.

Also till the 5th Pay Commission, employees generally received salaries based on individual pay scales.

The fourth Pay Commission introduced the concept of running pay scales but in a limited way only for Defence forces.

However, the Sixth CPC recommended using pay bands and grade pay for both civilians and defence forces, but the 7th CPC ended all previous pay bands and grade pay systems, introducing a new pay matrix.

Also Read: X and Bluesky launch new video feeds amid TikTok’s uncertain future

Source: Pay Commissions: Fiscal Implications, a study by the Institute of Economic Growth in 2019