The Modi government announced the formation of the 8th Central Pay Commission in January 2025 but progress has been very slow. The crucial Terms of Reference (ToR) are not yet finalised. If we consider the timeline followed by the 7th Pay Commission central government employees and pensioners may have to wait more. According to media reports the revisions can be effective retrospectively from January 1 2026. 8th Pay Commission Implementation The Pay Commission is set up roughly every decade to revise pay pensions and allowances for central employees and retirees but the 8th pay commission has not yet made big progress. The government has not even appointed a chairman or members and the ToR which shapes the panel’s scope is also pending seven months after the initial declaration. Employee unions and representative bodies have been pressing the Centre for updates. In response to a recent query the Finance Ministry said it has sought inputs from ministries states and employee organisations and that a formal notification will be issued once the ToR is finalised. Will Implementation Of 8th Pay Commission Be Delayed? If the 8th Pay Commission follows the same timeline as earlier commission it can delay more. The 7th Pay Commission announced on September 25 2013 took nearly 33 months from announcement to implementation: ToR issued: February 28 2014 (five months after announcement) Members appointed: March 4 2014 Report submitted: November 19 2015 (about 20 months later) Implementation: June 29 2016 with effect from January 1 2016 This means there was a 27-month gap between the ToR notification and the implementation date. Applying that to the 8th Pay Commission if the government issues the ToR by August 2025 recommendations could realistically be implemented only around January 2028. However the process might not exactly be done in the same way like the 7th Pay Commission current delays suggest the 8th Pay Commission can be delayed like earlier one.