8th Pay Commission Update: The Modi government, in January this year, announced the formation of the 8th Central Pay Commission — an exercise that usually takes place every 10 years to revise compensation, including various allowances, for serving employees and retired personnel of the central government.
However, contrary to the expectations of over 1 crore central employees and pensioners, the government has not moved forward so far. The Terms of Reference — which will form the basis for revising salaries and other aspects — are yet to be finalised, and the appointment of members and the chairman is still pending despite seven months having passed.
Amidst all this, there is a growing discomfort among employees who have through their representative bodies and unions have written to the Centre, seeking clarifications regarding the progress of the 8th Pay Commission ToR and other things. The finance ministry recently in a reply to a query around 8th Pay Commission delay said that it has sought inputs from various stakeholders, including ministries, states and employee bodies and the formal notification would come in due course once the ToR is finalised.
Since the 8th Pay Commission is on course to become the most delayed pay panel in terms of the time taken between its initial formal announcement and the final notification — with seven months already having passed — we will look at the timeline of the 7th Pay Commission to gauge how long it might take for the 8th Pay Commission to be implemented if it were notified today.
Complete timeline of the 7th Pay Commission
If we look closely at the process of formation of the 7th Pay Commission and implementation of the recommendations, it took about 3 years. It includes all the stages – announcement, formal notification, appointment of members, submission of report and implementation of recommendations.
- Announcement of the Commission – 25 September 2013
The UPA government announced the formation of the 7th Pay Commission in September 2013. At that time, it had been 5 years since the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission were implemented.
- ToR (Terms of Reference) notification — 28 February 2014
Almost 5 months after the announcement, the Finance Ministry notified the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the 7th Pay Commission.
- Appointment of members — 4 March 2014
Just 4 days after the ToR, the chairman and other members of the commission were appointed. Justice A.K. Mathur was made the chairman of the commission.
- Submission of report — 19 November 2015
After about 1 year and 8 months of meetings, analysis of data and discussion on recommendations, the commission submitted its final report to the central government.
- Implementation of recommendations by the government — 29 June 2016
About 7 months after receiving the report, the government accepted most of the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission and these were implemented from 1 January 2016.
Thus, it took about 2 years and 9 months from the announcement of the 7th Pay Commission to the implementation of the recommendations.
What does this mean for the 8th Pay Commission?
So, if the 8th Pay Commission — announced on January 16 this year — follows a process similar to that of the 7th Pay Commission, it is likely that central government employees and pensioners will not receive the good news in 2026. Given that the previous commission took a total of 44 months, the 8th Pay Commission’s implementation could be expected around the end of 2027 or the beginning of 2028.
8th Pay Commission progress so far
The Centre announced the 8th Pay Commission on January 16 this year. The Staff Side of the National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM) submitted a draft proposal to the Cabinet Secretary, listing out their key demands. The NC-JCM is a platform for dialogue between the government and its employees, specifically concerning matters of common interest and employee welfare.
Since then, not much progress has been seen on the 8th Pay Commission. Going by the current pace, and comparing it with the previous pay commission, the new pay panel’s recommendations might be implemented only by early 2028. This is because, in the case of the 7th Pay Commission, it took 27 months from the date of official notification to the date of implementation.
So, assuming the government formally notifies the 8th Pay Commission in August this year, its recommendations might realistically come into effect from January 2028. However, it is not necessary that the 8th Pay Commission will follow the exact same timeline as the 7th. The new panel’s recommendations could, in theory, be implemented in record time.
That said, this comparison is purely based on previous trends. It must also be noted that regardless of the actual implementation date, the recommendations would take effect retrospectively from the originally scheduled date of January 1, 2026.
Summing up…
The experience of the 7th Pay Commission shows that it takes about 3 years from announcement to implementation. If the government constitutes the 8th Pay Commission now, the new recommendations may be implemented in early 2028.