8th Pay Commission: Should minimum salary and pension be equal? How this issue was addressed before 8th CPC

8th Pay Commission news: The 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC) to revise salaries and pensions of central government employees and pensioners is expected to be formally set up soon. The government has already decided to set up the new pay panel, whose recommendations may be implemented from January 1, 2026.

While anticipation around pay and pension hikes in the 8th CPC is building up among employees and pensioners, the new pay panel may face a vexed issue that also came up for discussion before the previous pay commission. It would be interesting to see how the 8th CPC addresses this issue.

The issue: Minimum pension = minimum salary?

The issue of whether the quantum of minimum pension should be equal to the minimum pay came up before the 7th pay commission.

In meetings with employees, the 7th CPC received various recommendations that said the then-existing minimum pension of ₹3500 was low. And, it was argued before the 7th CPC that the minimum pension should be equal to minimum pay for sustenance.

How the 7th CPC responded

The 7th pay commission sought the views of the government in this regard.

The Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare (DoPPW) told the 7th CPC that as per the orders issued after the Vth CPC, the minimum pension in the government was ₹1,275. The normal revised consolidated pension of a pre-2006 pensioner was 2.26 of the pre-revised basic pension.

The DoPPW also said that the revised minimum pension of ₹3,500 in the 6th CPC was much more than 2.26 times the pre-revised pension of ₹1,275.

The 7th CPC decided not to make the minimum pension equal to the minimum pay. However, it ensured that the minimum pension of central government employees more than doubled, from ₹3500 to ₹9000, due to its recommendation to apply a fitment factor of 2.57 on minimum pay and pensions.

The minimum pay recommended by the 7th CPC was ₹18,000 and the minimum pension was ₹9000.

“Further the recommendations of this Commission in relation to pay of personnel will lead to a significant increase in the minimum pay from the existing ₹7,000 per month to ₹18,000 per month. This, based on the computation of pension, will raise minimum pension from the existing ₹3,500 to ₹9,000. The minimum pension based on the recommendations of this Commission will increase by 2.57 times over the existing level,” the 7th CPC noted in its recommendations.