As the 7th Central Pay Commission completes its 10-year tenure on December 31, it marks the end of a long phase of salary restructuring for central government employees.
Implemented from January 1, 2016, the 7th Pay Commission brought sweeping changes to pay structures, allowances and salary calculations — changes that continue to influence employee expectations as discussions around the next pay panel gather pace.
One of the most important decisions of the 7th Pay Commission was fixing the fitment factor at 2.57, which effectively determined how salaries moved from the previous pay commission to the new system.
Along with this, the government scrapped the old grade pay structure and introduced a simplified pay matrix, making salary progression easier to understand.
Where Level-1 salary stood at the end of the 6th Pay Commission
By the time the 6th Central Pay Commission ended on December 31, 2015, inflation had pushed Dearness Allowance (DA) to very high levels.
At the lowest level, an employee’s pay structure looked like this:
Basic Pay: Rs 7,000
Grade Pay: Rs 1,800
Total basic (pay + grade pay): Rs 8,800
With DA at 119%, the DA component alone stood at Rs 10,472. Adding HRA of Rs 2,640 (for X-category cities), the total monthly salary came to around Rs 21,800–22,000, excluding transport allowance and other minor benefits.
In simple terms, even before the 6th Pay Commission ended, inflation had already been largely neutralised through a sharply rising DA.
What changed under the 7th Pay Commission
The 7th Pay Commission reset DA to zero in 2016 but sharply increased the base pay. For Level-1 employees:
Basic Pay was raised to Rs 18,000
Grade Pay was completely removed
A new pay matrix replaced the older system
Nearly 10 years later, as the commission’s term draws to a close, DA stands at 58%, translating to Rs 10,440 on the Rs 18,000 basic pay. HRA for X-category cities is Rs 5,400.
This takes the current Level-1 monthly salary to around Rs 33,500–34,000, again excluding transport allowance and other components.
Note: Several allowances and service-specific benefits are not included in this comparison for both the 6th and 7th Pay Commission salary calculations.
A clear comparison: Then vs now
The numbers show how salaries have evolved over the decade:
Basic pay more than doubled from Rs 8,800 (basic + grade pay) to Rs 18,000
DA percentage fell sharply, but the actual DA amount is almost unchanged — about Rs 10,400 then and now
HRA has more than doubled, giving a strong boost to take-home pay
Overall monthly salary rose from Rs 22,000 to about Rs 34,000
That is a jump of nearly 55% over 10 years.
Why the debate has returned now
While the total salary has increased meaningfully, one key issue remains: the minimum basic pay of Rs 18,000 has not changed since 2016. Over the years, salary growth has come only through DA hikes.
This stagnation in base pay — despite DA once again crossing the 50% mark — is the main reason why employee unions are demanding a higher minimum wage and a revised fitment factor under the next pay commission.
As the 7th Pay Commission era formally closes, these numbers explain why expectations from the 8th Pay Commission are already running high.
