The Seventh Pay Commission headed by Justice AK Mathur submitted its report to the finance ministry on Thursday. The commission recommended an overall increase of 23.55% in the pay, allowances and pensions for 50 lakh central government employees and 54 lakh pensioners. The increase in pay will be 16%, with allowances shooting up by 63% and the rise in pensions being 24%. The recommendations of the commission will now go to the Cabinet and are likely to be implemented with effect from January 1, 2016.

The minimum pay in the central government is recommended to be Rs 18000 per month, while the maximum will be Rs 2,25,000 per month for the apex scale and Rs 2,50,000 per month for the Cabinet Secretary and others at the same level, reported ANI. Finance minister Arun Jaitley said that the total monetary impact on the finances of the central government is Rs 1,02,000 crore.

Government employees had received a 35% hike in the Sixth Pay Commission in 2008. The central government constitutes the pay commission every 10 years to revise the pay scale of its employees, which is also adopted by the states after some modifications.