8th Pay Commission: Whenever a new Pay Commission is announced, it immediately captures the attention of millions of central government employees and pensioners
as it decides how much extra money lands in monthly salaries and pensions. Constituted roughly once every decade, these panels reassess pay scales, allowances, and pension structures, often leading to a significant revision in take-home income. With the 8th Pay Commission now taking shape, expectations are running high. Serving employees are hopeful of a meaningful salary bump, while pensioners are keenly watching for a favourable fitment factor that could raise pensions and generate sizeable arrears. However, the actual increase will only become clear once the central government finalises the fitment factor. To understand what may lie ahead, it helps to look at how previous Pay Commissions reshaped pay packets and what experts believe could happen under the 8th CPC. What Is The Fitment Factor And Why It Matter The fitment factor plays a central role in determining revised salaries and pensions whenever a new Pay Commission is implemented. Ramachandran Krishnamoorthy, Director, Payroll Services, Nexdigm, says the fitment factor is usually decided by the employer, pay commission, or the compensation committee based on several economic and organisational considerations, according to a report from The Economic Times. In practical terms, the fitment factor acts as a multiplier. The existing basic pay of an employee or pensioner is multiplied by this factor to arrive at the new basic pay under the revised pay structure. A higher fitment factor directly translates into a larger jump in basic salary and pension. How The 6th And 7th Pay Commissions Changed Pay Under the 6th Pay Commission, a fitment factor of 1.92 was applied. This resulted in the minimum basic pay rising from Rs 3,200 to Rs 7,440, while the maximum basic pay moved from Rs 30,000 to Rs 90,000. The 7th Pay Commission went a step further by approving a fitment factor of 2.57. As a result, the minimum basic pay increased sharply from Rs 7,440 to Rs 18,000. At the top end, the maximum basic pay surged from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2,50,000, significantly boosting earnings across levels. 8th Pay Commission: What the Numbers Could Look Like For the upcoming 8th Pay Commission, experts estimate that the fitment factor could fall anywhere between 1.8 and 2.86, though no official figure has been notified yet. To understand the impact, consider a hypothetical fitment factor of 2.15. If an employee currently draws a basic pay of Rs 18,000, applying a 2.15 multiplier would revise the basic salary to Rs 38,700.
