8th Pay Commission Big Update: If fitment factor is low, can central government employees expect highest ever pay increase?

Several central government employees assume that if the fitment factor is 2.5 or 2.8, their monthly salary will hike by 150 percent. Check what is the effect of DA merger and how it will affect salary hike.

8th Pay Commission Big Update: Amid all the talks regarding the 8th Pay Commission, the most discussed topic is the fitment factor as it plays a crucial role in hiking the salary of the central government employees and the pensions of pensioners. However, earlier commissions show that the fitment factor number can be misleading. According to several government employees, if the fitment factor is between 2.5 and 2.8 their monthly pay will jump by 150 percent or even more. The real hike is lower because of the dearness allowance merger effect.

Does The Fitment Factor Directly Affect Salary Hike?

It is a multiplier which is applied by the commission to employees’ basic pay in order to fix their basic salary under the revised pay structure.
However, employees are already receiving Dearness Allowance (DA), which is an inflation-linked component which is bound to increase every six months. Now, when the new commission is implemented, DA will reach 50 percent, 100 percent or 125 percent of the basic salary.