8th Pay Commission Constituted: Key Areas And Review Focus Explained

The long-awaited 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC) formation was recently announced. Now, the announcement has been formalised with issuance of the Extraordinary Gazette notification dated November 3, 2025. The commission is tasked with a comprehensive review of service conditions, pay structure, allowances, and benefits of central government personnel.

The newly formed 8th CPC comprises three members: Chairperson (Smt. Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai), part-time member (Prof. Pulak Ghosh), and member-secretary (Shri Pankaj Jain). It is a temporary body headquartered in Delhi, which is required to deliver its recommendations within 18 months from the date of its constitution; however, it can send an interim report on any matter after finalizing the recommendations.

8th CPC Terms Of Reference (ToR)

A CPC’s recommendations are applicable to central government employees, All India Services, defence forces, personnel of Union Territories, members of regulatory bodies under the Acts of Parliament, except the Reserve Bank of India, officers and employees of the Supreme Court, and High Courts whose expenditure is borne by the UTs, and the Indian Audit and Accounts Department.

What Is CPC Tasked With?

The core objective of the CPC is to review and propose changes in the government personnel’s pay, allowances, and other facilities or benefits. 

Here are the responsibilities assigned to it:

• Working out an emolument structure to attract talent to the government services while promoting efficiency, accountability, and responsibility in the work culture.

• Review existing allowances and conditions of their admissibility, and recommend rationalisation.

• Examine current bonus schemes for improvement in performance and productivity, and make recommendations on general principles, financial parameters, and specific criteria to develop an appropriate incentive scheme to reward excellence.

• Review Death-cum-Retirement Gratuity and pensions for employees under the National Pension Scheme (NPS), including the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), and also those not covered by these pension schemes, and recommend the unfunded cost of non-contributory pension schemes.

Financial Parameters

While making recommendations, the CPC is required to keep in mind some crucial financial parameters.

These include considering the economic conditions in the country, prevailing current emolument structure and working conditions in both central public sector undertakings (PSUs) and private sector, and unfunded cost of non-contributory pension schemes. The CPC also needs to consider the impact of recommendations on state government finances and ensure adequate resource availability for developmental expenditure and welfare measures.

The CPC has the authority to establish its own procedures and, when needed, it can appoint advisors, institutional consultants, and experts as well. The government has requested the ministries and departments of the central government and state governments, service associations, and all other concerned parties to cooperate with the commission in its comprehensive work.