What Is the Fitment Factor? How 2.57 Was Worked Out

The fitment factor is one number by which every employee’s basic pay is multiplied on the day new pay scales start after a pay commission. The commission recommends it and the Government decides: in 2008 the Government chose 1.86 where the 6th Pay Commission had proposed 1.74. In 2016 it was 2.57, and pensions were revised with it too.

How 2.57 was worked out

The 7th Pay Commission first worked out a minimum pay. It priced what a worker’s family needs, counting the worker as one “consumption unit”, the spouse as 0.8 and two children as 0.6 each, following the norms of the 1957 Indian Labour Conference and the nutritionist Dr Wallace Aykroyd: 2,700 calories a day for an adult. As on 1 January 2016 this came to ₹17,992.98, which it rounded to ₹18,000 (7th CPC report, paragraphs 4.2.3 to 4.2.9).

The minimum pay before was ₹7,000. ₹18,000 ÷ ₹7,000 = 2.57. In the Commission’s words: “Of this multiple, 2.25 provides for merging of basic pay with DA, assumed at 125 percent on 01.01.2016, while the balance is the real increase being recommended by the Commission.” That real increase was 14.29% (2.57 ÷ 2.25 = 1.1429). The Government accepted the factor without change (resolution of 25 July 2016).

How it was applied

Take the basic pay on 31 December 2015: pay in the pay band plus grade pay.
Multiply it by 2.57 and round to the nearest rupee.
Find that figure in your Level of the new pay matrix. If no cell has exactly that figure, move up to the next cell.

The pay rules give their own example: a basic pay of ₹12,560 (₹10,160 plus grade pay ₹2,400) × 2.57 = ₹32,279.20, rounded to ₹32,279. The next cell in Level 4 is ₹32,300, which became the new pay (Rule 7, CCS (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016).

Why most of the factor is not a rise

On 1 January 2016, DA was 125%, so pay plus DA was 2.25 times basic pay. A factor of 2.25 would only have kept pay where it was. On the new basic pay, DA started again at 0: “Dearness Allowance in the revised pay structure shall be zero from 01.01.2016” (Finance Ministry order of 4 November 2016). Only the part of 2.57 above 2.25 was a real rise.

If DA starts again at 0 under the 8th Pay Commission too, which is not decided, the same sum applies: DA is 63% from 1 July 2026, so any factor up to 1.63 would only make up for DA.

Today: DA is 63%, so basic pay plus DA is 1.63 times basic pay. On ₹44,900 that is ₹44,900 + ₹28,287 = ₹73,187. If DA started again at 0, a factor of 1.63 would give ₹73,187: no rise at all. A factor of 2.57 would give ₹1,15,393, a real rise of 57.7%.

Fitment factors so far

Fitment factors so far, from the pay rules themselves
Pay commission	From	Factor	How pay was fixed
6th CPC	1 January 2006	1.86	Basic pay on the 5th CPC scale × 1.86, rounded up to the next ₹10, plus the new grade pay. The Commission had proposed 1.74; the Government raised it. (Rule 7, 2008 pay rules; Government’s resolution of 29 August 2008)
7th CPC	1 January 2016	2.57	Pay in the pay band plus grade pay × 2.57, rounded to the nearest rupee, then that cell of the new pay matrix or the next higher one. Of the 2.57, 2.25 merged basic pay with DA of 125%; the rest was the rise. (Rule 7, 2016 pay rules; 7th CPC report, para 4.2.9)
8th CPC	Not decided	Not decided	The Commission has not made its recommendations yet. (Lok Sabha, 10 August 2026)

The 7th Pay Commission’s report also lists the real rise in minimum pay under each pay commission, as finally fixed: 14.2% (2nd), 20.6% (3rd), 27.6% (4th), 31.0% (5th), 54.0% (6th) and 14.3% (7th) (paragraph 4.2.9).

Fitment factor and index of rationalisation

The 7th Pay Commission also used an “index of rationalisation” to set where each Level of the new pay matrix starts, raising the entry pay of the higher pay bands a little more (report, paragraph 5.1.19). That is a different number from the fitment factor: it shaped the matrix, while the fitment factor fixed each employee’s pay in it.

What the 8th Pay Commission’s factor will be

Nobody knows yet. The Commission has not made its recommendations, and the Government decides after it does. Try any factor in the fitment factor calculator, or see what each figure in the news would give.

Two bars: the 7th CPC's factor of 2.57 split into 2.25 for basic pay plus DA at 125% and a real rise of 14.29%; and today, if DA starts again at 0, a factor of 1.63, which would only make up for DA at 63% — Of the 7th CPC’s 2.57, 2.25 merged basic pay with DA of 125%. Today, with DA at 63%, a factor of 1.63 would only make up for DA, if DA started again at 0 as it did in 2016.

Updated 28 October 2026