India's 8th Pay Commission Recommendations Include Proposed 5-Person Family Model and Minimum Salary of Rs 69,000

National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery Proposes Fitment Factor for Central Government Employees

The National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM) has put forth a recommendation to the eighth Central Pay Commission to set the fitment factor at 3.833 to determine basic pay for more than 4.5 million employees and 6 million pensioners across the country. This proposal aims to establish a uniform revision of basic pay scales across all levels of central government employees.

According to the NC-JCM, the minimum pay should be set at Rs 69,000 after applying the revised fitment factor, following pay scale mergers and revisions and an annual increment increase from 3 percent to 6 percent. The decision was reached after factoring in average retail prices of food items, clothing costs, housing (7.5 percent), fuel (20 percent), electricity and water charges, skill development (25 percent), as well as additional expenses (25 percent) related to marriage, recreation, and festivals.

Key Recommendations

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• The NC-JCM has suggested treating a family as five units, comprising the employee as one unit, spouse as one unit, two children as 0.8 units each, and parents as 0.8 units. This approach is based on legal obligations under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act and the Social Security Code, 2020.
• The committee has proposed the merger of pay scales and the revised pay scales of the 8th CPC.
• The NC-JCM has also suggested replacing the 12-month average with a six-month average for calculating dearness allowance (DA) and providing point-to-point DA.

Impact of Fitment Factor

If the eight pay panel agrees to adopt the proposed 3.833 fitment factor and the employee-level merger plan, an employee in pay scale 1, earning Rs 18,000 to Rs 56,000, would see their basic pay revised to Rs 69,000. This would automatically raise the dearness allowance for central government employees or the dearness relief for pensioners, as these allowances are calculated as a percentage of the last-drawn basic pay.

Comparison of Fitment Factors

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The Centre is yet to announce DA revision, which was due in January as part of the biannual cycle. The allowance was raised from 54 percent to 58 percent in July 2025. The employee body suggested that point-to-point DA be provided, and the merger of basic pay or basic pension if the DA/DR crosses 25 percent with basic pay and basic pension.