Facts of the 7th CPC Pay Matrix for Central Government Employees

The 7th CPC Pay Matrix is a comprehensive tabulated design that comprises of all the pay levels with respect to the years of experience of a central government employee. In the 7th CPC, the 8 pay bands of the 6th CPC have been divided into categories of grade pay which is further categorized into pay levels. The product of grade pay with the fitment factor, ranging from 2.56 to 2.72, gives the salary in each pay level.

• Structure of the 7th CPC pay matrix:

Prior to the 6th CPC, the salary of the government employees depended on the concept of pay scales. Grade Pay began to be regarded as the key determiner to implement the recommendations of the 6th CPC. The key attribute in the 7th CPC pay matrix is the categorization of grade pay into 18 pay levels.

• The 7th CPC pay matrix is a rationalized depiction of various pay levels.
• The employees can now contemplate the expected pay progression over their entire career span by a simple examination of this chart.
• The entry pay at each level is the minimum pay for the immediate recruits. It should be noted that the pay levels placed horizontally in the 7th CPC pay matrix are equidistant. Besides, the increment within a level is at the rate of 3% pa.
• The pay matrix comprises a horizontal and a vertical range portraying the ‘functional role in the hierarchy’ and ‘pay progression’ respectively.
• The horizontal range goes on up to 18 pay levels. Whereas the vertical range reproduces the annual financial progression at a rate of 3% under specific pay levels.
• The minimum pay is defined as the entry pay which is evaluated on the basis of the 15th ILC norms or the Aykroyd formula.
• The progression on the horizontal range would mean a promotion, while on the vertical range of a particular level, the employee would progress annually.
• In other words, a non-functional upgrade in the job profile of an employee would lead to a shift towards the successive pay level in the horizontal range.