8th Pay Commission: The 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC) has officially launched its website and invited feedback from stakeholders, signaling that the commission’s work has now begun.
While it may take several months for the commission to submit its recommendations, central government employees and pensioners are eager for the proposals to be implemented quickly. Once approved, the 8th Pay Commission is expected to increase salaries for government employees and pensions for retirees.
Currently, it is not confirmed whether the 8th CPC will follow the fitment factor-based approach used by the 7th Pay Commission. If it does, the 60% Dearness Allowance (DA) may form the base for calculating the new pay scale.
8th Pay Commission: Dearness Allowance Update
The All India CPI-IW index for December 2025 stood at 148.2 points. Based on this, the DA for January to June 2026 is expected to increase by 2%, which would bring the total DA under the 7th CPC to 60.34%.
This DA hike is likely to receive approval from the Union Cabinet by March 2026. For reference, the 7th CPC had used the DA rate as of 1 January 2016 to calculate the fitment factor.
8th Pay Commission: Fitment Factor Under the 7th CPC
The 7th CPC, implemented from 1 January 2016, calculated the fitment factor assuming that the DA at that time would be 125% of the basic salary. For the first level of the new pay matrix, the starting salary was fixed at ₹18,000, whereas under the 6th CPC in 2006, the starting pay was ₹7,000.
This meant that the 7th CPC’s starting salary was 2.57 times higher than the 2006 rate. Additionally, the same fitment factor of 2.57 was applied uniformly across all employees.
Expected Fitment Factor for 8th Pay Commission
If an employee’s basic salary was 100 at the start of the 7th CPC, the accumulated DA over the past 10 years would raise it to 160. This suggests that the minimum fitment factor for the 8th CPC should be 1.60. However, several reasons could increase this number further:
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, three DA hikes were suspended for 18 months (2020-21) and were never compensated. If these increases had been applied on time, the DA would now exceed 60%.
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Employees’ unions and experts are demanding a higher fitment factor to compensate for these missed hikes.
Even if the 8th CPC becomes effective from January 2026, immediate implementation is unlikely. Past experience shows that final recommendations may take around 2 years to be approved, during which DA could increase at least four times.
8th Pay Commission: Factors Influencing the Fitment Factor
The fitment factor will depend not only on DA but also on several other considerations:
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Government finances – the commission will assess how much the pay hike will impact the treasury.
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Pay balance across services – ensuring fairness in different departments.
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Employee morale and demands – unions’ expectations will be taken into account.
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Economic growth and inflation trends – the country’s economic situation and future inflation will play a major role.
Only after reviewing all these factors, the 8th Pay Commission will finalize the fitment factor and recommend the revised pay scales.