8th pay commission: Demand for minimum pension on progressive age-based enhancement up to 100% of LPD, explained

Constituted every 10 years, the 8th central pay commission (CPC), is currently in its consultation stage. During this process, it is meeting with various employee and pensioner associations, federations, groups, representatives, unions and other stakeholders at scheduled state visits and meetings across the country.

The panel, comprising former Supreme Court Judge Justice Ranjana Prakash
Desai as Chairperson, Pankaj Jain, a former IAS, as Member-Secretary, and Professor Pulak Ghosh, tenured Professor of Finance, Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, as a Member of the Commission, is likely to make its official recommendations by May 2027.

The 8th CPC's decisions will impact about 1 crore beneficiaries, comprising around 50 lakh central government employees and nearly 65 lakh pensioners, including defence and railway personnel and retirees.

Pension revision, minimum pension key demands

A number of employee and pensioner groups have submitted suggestions for the panel regarding pension revision. Well known among these are the National Council — Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM), Maharashtra Old Pension Organisation and All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF), who each submitted detailed proposals to the commission demanding comprehensive pension restructuring, improvements and parity in payments.

Further, pensioner groups have also put forth suggestions for payment of minimum pension. Top among these is the demand for minimum pension to be:

• Increased to at least 67% of the Last Pay Drawn (LPD), or
• Increased to the average emoluments drawn during last 10 months of service.

Progressive age-based enhancement up to 100% of LPD, explained

Another proposal is for introduction of minimum pension calculation based on a progressive age-based pension enhancement up to 100% of the LPD for pensioners aged 90 years and above, according to a Clear Tax report. The proposal suggests that pension benefits be increased for older pensioners based on age.

Notably, this is still under consideration and has not yet been approved or accepted by the Centre. But while the 8th CPC's final recommendations may be much different compared to the proposals, here's a look at how the age-based pension payout could likely work — Check below table:

When can we expect final recommendations?

Notably, the panel released its official Terms of Reference (ToR) last year. On the agenda, among other issues, is the pension revision for pensioners and family pensioners who retired on or before 31 December 2025.

Meanwhile, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and Retired Employees Welfare Association (REWA) have formally forwarded representations seeking pension revision for central government employees who retired before 1 January 2026. The concern among pensioners is that the ToR does not expressly state that pensions of employees who retired before 1 January 2026 are to be revised.

However, 8th CPC discussions are still ongoing, and there is no decision on matters yet. Further, once the 8th CPC recommendations come, the Centre will also have to approve them before they are implemented.

As per the timeline, the commission is likely to announce its recommendations within 18 months since constitution (on 3 November 2025). This means February or April 2027 is the earliest we can get any official announcements on its decisions. But its absolute deadline to submit the report is May 2027.