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The 8th Central Pay Commission, constituted to speed up the process of salary, allowances and pension revision of about 48.62 lakh central employees and 67.85 lakh pensioners of the country, has now entered its most important phase. After completing consultations with various stakeholders in various states, union territories and major cities of the country, the high-level team of the Commission is going to camp in Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka, this week. As per the official schedule, detailed face-to-face meetings will be held between the Commission members and major Central Employees Unions, Defense Personnel Organizations, Railway Employees Federations and Pensioners Welfare Associations of South India on 7th and 8th October 2026 in Bengaluru. Earlier, the Commission has completed a round of meetings in cities like Ladakh, Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow), Chandigarh, Chennai, Puducherry and Jaipur. The Bengaluru meeting is also being considered most important because after this the Commission is going to finalize the financial and administrative discussions in the country’s financial capital Mumbai on 22 and 23 October.
The most prominent and most awaited agenda of this two-day meeting in Bengaluru is going to be the determination of Fitment Factor. A fitment factor of 2.57 was implemented in the Seventh Pay Commission. The apex body of employee organizations National Council (JCM – Staff Side) and Bharat Pensioners’ Society (BPS) have placed before the Commission an official demand for a higher fitment factor of 3.833. On the other hand, Bharatiya Immunity Mazdoor Sangh (BPMS) has suggested increasing it up to 4 times. However, discussions are in full swing among financial experts and economic advisors of the government to reach a consensus on a practical fitment factor ranging from 2.28 to 2.86. In the Bengaluru meeting, employee representatives will try to prove through a detailed presentation that a fitment factor of more than 3 times would be justified considering the increase in inflation, cost of living and increase in per capita income in the last decade.
At present, the minimum basic salary of employees under Pay Matrix Level 1 of the 7th Pay Commission is fixed at ₹ 18,000 per month. The employee organizations have made a strong argument before the Commission that as per the Dr. Ackroyd formula of the 15th Indian Labor Conference (ILC), which takes into account the minimum needs of food, clothing, housing and education of children, the minimum wage should be at least in the range of ₹41,000 to ₹54,000. Some major unions have also submitted a proposal to take it to ₹69,000. Additionally, BPMS has suggested that the family unit should be considered from 3 members to 5 members while determining salary. During the talks in Bengaluru this week, the Commission will seek from the unions their final stand on the Compression Ratio and balancing the difference between minimum and maximum wages.
Issues related to pensioners are also going to be thoroughly reviewed in the Bengaluru meeting. Currently the minimum pension under the Seventh Pay Commission is ₹9,000 per month. Pensioners’ associations say that considering the rising cost of healthcare and old age needs, the minimum pension should be increased to at least ₹20,500 to ₹25,000. Along with this, the guarantee of minimum pension for retired employees with more than 10 years of service will also be discussed amid the ongoing controversies regarding Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), National Pension System (NPS) and Old Pension Scheme (OPS). Pensioners are also demanding that just as the salary of working employees is revised based on the fitment factor, there should be a complete revision of the old pension using the same formula.
The employee side wants a major change regarding the annual rate of salary increase. At present, central government employees are given an annual increment of 3 percent every year. NC-JCM, in its draft submitted to the Commission, has made a strong proposal of doubling it to 6 percent annual increment. Additionally, a demand has been made for merger of the levels to remove the discrepancies existing in the existing 18 pay matrix levels. It advocates creating a simplified and transparent unified pay matrix up to Level 13 by merging Level 2 and 3, Level 4 and 5 and Level 9 and 10. With this, the dispute of pay disparity between employees with equal position and equal responsibility can be resolved forever.
The fifth biggest discussion of the Bengaluru meeting is related to the financial mathematics of allowances and arrears. The Central Government had notified the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the 8th Pay Commission on November 3, 2025 and the Commission has been given a deadline of 18 months (by May-June 2027) to prepare its report. As per convention, the Pay Commission recommendations are considered effective from January 1, 2026 on a 10-year cycle. In such a situation, if it takes time till 2027 for the final report of the Commission to come and the government to implement it, then the employees and pensioners are sure to get huge arrears from January 1, 2026 till the actual payment. For pay level 6, 7 and 8 employees, this arrears can reach from ₹ 8 lakh to more than ₹ 17 lakh. Along with this, efforts will also be made to agree on the rules for linking Dearness Allowance (DA), House Rent Allowance (HRA) and Transport Allowance (TA) with the new basic salary.
After Bengaluru, the main phase of the Commission’s regional tours will be completed with the conclusion of the Mumbai meetings on 22-23 October. The Commission will then begin a round of internal meetings with the Finance Ministry to assess all the memoranda received, financial estimates and the fiscal impact on the Union Budget. Although employee organizations are pressing for early submission of the report, the commission’s official deadline of 18 months ends around May 2027. Experts say that even if the notification takes time, the new salary structure will be considered effective from January 1, 2026, due to which huge amount of money and arrears will reach the pockets of the employees. The signals emerging from the talks in Bengaluru this week will decide how positive the Commission’s attitude is towards the demands of the employees.