8th Pay Commission: Employees will have to wait till 2028 for salary hike? What is the lesson of past experience

8th Pay Commission implementation: The 8th Pay Commission was announced in January 2025. But the terms of reference of the commission have not been finalized yet. In such a situation, when will the new pay scale be implemented?

8th Pay Commission implementation: The 8th Pay Commission for central employees and pensioners was announced by the Modi government in January this year. But even after seven months, concrete work has not started on it. The Terms of Reference (ToR), that is, the issues on which the commission will prepare its recommendations, have not been finalized yet. If we look at the previous experience related to the 7th Pay Commission, then this process may take about 3 years. In such a situation, the implementation of the new pay scale may have to wait till the beginning of 2028, even if its benefit is available later by adding it from January 1, 2026.

Slow pace after the announcement of the 8th Pay Commission

In January 2025, the Central Government announced the 8th Pay Commission. This is a process that takes place every 10 years, in which the salary, allowances and other facilities of central employees and pensioners are reviewed. More than 1 crore employees and pensioners across the country are eagerly waiting since this announcement.

But contrary to expectations, the ToR has not been finalised yet, nor have the chairman and members of the commission been appointed. Employee organisations have written to the government several times seeking progress information. The Finance Ministry says that inputs have been sought from various ministries, states and employee organisations, and a formal notification will be issued after the ToR is finalised.

What was the lesson from the 7th Pay Commission

If we look at the timeline of the 7th Pay Commission, it is clear that the 8th Pay Commission may also take a long time.

Announcement of formation: On 25 September 2013, the UPA government announced the formation of the 7th Pay Commission. At that time, it had been 5 years since the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission were implemented.

ToR notification: 5 months after the announcement, i.e. on 28 February 2014, the Finance Ministry issued the ToR.

Appointment of members: The chairman and other members of the commission were appointed on 4 March 2014. Justice A.K. Mathur was made the chairman.

Report submission: After about 1 year and 8 months, on 19 November 2015, the commission submitted its report to the government.

Implementation of recommendations: On 29 June 2016, the government accepted most of the recommendations and they were implemented from 1 January 2016.

Thus, from the announcement of the 7th Pay Commission to the implementation of its recommendations, it took 33 months, i.e., about 2 years and 9 months.

Possible timeline of 8th Pay Commission

If the process of 8th Pay Commission is also like 7th Pay Commission, then it is difficult for the employees to get the good news of salary hike in 2026. 7 months have passed since the announcement in January 2025 and ToR has not been decided yet.

If we assume that the formal notification of the commission is issued in August 2025, then also based on the experience of 7th Pay Commission, the recommendations can be implemented after 27 months i.e. around January 2028. This means that even though the employees will get the benefit of salary from January 1, 2026, but in reality the new salary will come in hand in 2028 and the arrears will also be available only then.

Concerns of employee organizations

Employee unions say that such delay is increasing discontent among employees. NC-JCM (National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery) has made several demands in its draft proposal submitted to the government, which includes improvement in salary structure, increase in allowances and improvement in pension. The organizations want the government to quickly finalize the ToR and allow the commission to start work.

What could be different from this

However, it is not necessary that the process of the 8th Pay Commission be as long as the 7th. If the government gives priority and issues the ToR quickly and the commission also submits the report in record time, then the recommendations can be implemented even within 2026. But looking at the current pace, this does not seem possible at the moment.

What is the past experience telling us

It is clear from the past experience that the entire process of the Pay Commission takes time. In the case of the 7th Pay Commission, it was a journey of about 3 years. If the same pattern is repeated for the 8th Pay Commission, then central employees and pensioners may have to wait till 2028. However, after implementation, its benefits and arrears should be available from January 1, 2026.

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