The 8th Pay Commission, tasked with revising salaries and pensions of the central government employees and pensioners, continues to hold talks with various stakeholders before presenting its recommendations. So far, a number of government employees and pensioners representative bodies have submitted their suggestions to the top body, focussing on pay structure, fitment factor, allowances and pension-related improvements.
The commission is reviewing all submissions carefully as part of its consultation process. After completing these discussions, it will prepare its recommendations for the government.
But before that, much speculation is being done about the anticipated ‘fitment factor'. A fitment factor is a mathematical multiplier that is used by the government to revise an employee's existing basic salary (or pension) into the new basic salary structure. Many bodies are proposing that under the 8th Pay Commission, the fitment factor should be around 3.8 to account for rising cost of living, inflation and other concerns.
To understand this, one must know that the basic pay in the 6th Pay Commission was Rs 7,000 at the entry level. Under the 7th Pay Commission, the salaries were revised based on the proposed fitment factor of 2.57. This means that the 7th Pay Commission applied a fitment factor of 2.57 to this minimum salary. The multiplication of both figures resulted in a new starting salary of Rs 18,000 at the entry level.
Hence, whatever fitment factor is decided by the 8th Pay Commission, will be used to multiply with Rs 18,000 to determine the entry level basic salary for employees. To be clear, higher officials come under high pay grades and will receive correspondingly higher revised salaries.
What Fitment Factor 3.8 Means?
If the proposed 3.8 fitment factor is accepted by the commission, this would mean that for entry level roles, the revised basic pay would be:
- Rs 18,000 (from 7th Pay) x 3.8 = Rs 68,400
How Does This Compare With the Past?
So far, India has seen seven Pay Commissions. The First Pay Commission was set up in January 1946. Since then, a new Commission is typically formed every 10 years. The 8th Pay Commission was constituted on Nov. 3, 2025. It has been given 18 months to submit its final recommendations on pay, pension and fitment factor.
The fitment factor has been used since the 6th Pay Commission. Earlier, salary revision methods were more complex, including pay rationalisation and need-based wage calculations.
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In the 1st Pay Commission, the revised basic salary amounted to Rs 55. The 2nd Pay Commission fixed minimum basic pay Rs 80 and the 3rd at Rs 185, based on uneven revision methods. The 4th Pay Commission raised it to Rs 750 with a DA-linked and rationalised structure.
The 5th Pay Commission fixed Rs 2,550 without any formal fitment factor. The 6th Pay Commission increased it to Rs 7,000, after introducing a fitment factor of 1.86. Similarly, the 7th Pay Commission used the fitment factor of 2.57.
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