These days, only one discussion is most heated among the central employees regarding the Eighth Pay Commission – and that is ‘fitment factor’. Many people are assuming that if the fitment factor becomes 2.25 or more, then their salary will also increase in the same proportion. But is this really going to happen?
The real truth is that the amount in an employee’s pocket is not determined by the fitment factor alone. Many other important things also work behind this. Let us understand in very simple language how your new salary is going to be calculated in the 8th Pay Commission.
Why is there discussion of fitment factor?
NC-JCM, the representative body of central employees, has made a strong demand for 3.833 fitment factor for the 8th Pay Commission. However, many economic experts believe that the final fitment factor of the Commission can be fixed between 2.0 to 2.25. From here the biggest question arises that if the fitment factor is fixed at 2.25, will the total salary of the employees also directly increase by 2.25 times? The answer is – absolutely not.
Not just the fitment factor, this entire formula decides the salary.
The salary of any government employee is not made up of a single number, rather it is made up of many different parts. Basic salary, dearness allowance (DA), house rent allowance (HRA), transport allowance (TPTA) and other allowances play the most important role in this.
This means that just by increasing the basic pay, your entire salary does not increase in the same proportion. Changes in DA and other allowances from time to time also have a big impact on the final salary.
What does the old record of Pay Commission say?
If we look at the data of previous pay commissions, a shocking picture emerges:
- 7th Pay Commission: The fitment factor was fixed at 2.57, but the total increase in gross salary was only about 14.29%.
- 6th Pay Commission: The fitment factor was 1.86, but despite this there was a huge increase of about 54% in the total salary.
- 5th Pay Commission: In this the salary had increased by about 31%.
- 4th Pay Commission: There was an increase of about 27.60% in salary.
It is clear from these figures that a large fitment factor does not always guarantee a large salary increase.
Dearness Allowance (DA) will play the biggest role
Often employees keep their eyes focused only on the fitment factor, but the real game is played by Dearness Allowance (DA). Whenever a new pay commission is implemented, the total DA received till that time is added back to the basic pay and the new DA again starts from zero (0). This is the main reason that despite the fitment factor being large, the increase in total salary appears to be a little less than expected.
How much can your new salary increase?
According to the estimates of financial institution ‘BankBazaar’, even if the 8th Pay Commission fixes the fitment factor between 2.0 to 2.57, then there can be a huge increase of 31% to 68% in the gross salary of all central employees from level 1 to 18. Although there are still a few months left for the official recommendations related to salary to come, work on it is going on very fast in the government system.
What’s going on right now and what should employees do?
Let us tell you that the Eighth Pay Commission was officially constituted last year only in November 2025. Now with the launch of the official portal of the Commission, the round of meetings with employee organizations and all the stakeholders is continuing. On the basis of these discussions the commission will prepare its final report.
At present, there is no need to blindly trust everyone’s salary calculations posted on social media. Until the Commission presents its final report and the Government gives its approval, no data can be considered final.
Comments are closed.