7th Pay Commission: Maximum basic pay Rs 2.5 lakh; HRA Rs 60,000

Mumbai: Country's senior most bureaucrat Cabinet Secretary will get a handsome hike in basic pay and a substantial increase in house rent allowance once the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission are put into effect.

The Cabinet Secretary right now gets Rs 90,000 monthly salary which will be increased to Rs 2.5 lakh per month. The House Rent Allowance will also see a substantial increase. Under new pay regime, maximum HRA will be Rs 60,000 per month.

At present, there are as many as 43 lakh central government employees and 53 lakh pensioners who are covered for perks and bonuses under the recommendations of 6th Pay Commission that will soon be replaced by 7th Pay Commission.

The panel's final report is expected to be submitted on April 27 when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley returns from his visit to the United States where he strongly supported India's stand over the H1-B Visa debate with the US authorities.

India has flagged the row related to H1-B work visas as a trade and commerce related issue and has lobbied with the Donald Trump administration not to consider it as an immigration related issue.

Review committee set up under Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa has finalised its report and will submit it soon, according a report on Zee News.

"The 7th Pay Commission had earlier proposed the rate of House Rent Allowance (HRA) at 24 percent, 16 percent and 8 percent of the Basic Pay for Class X, Y and Z cities respectively," the report said.