IAS Salary 2026: Basic Pay, DA and Salary per Month at Every Level

An IAS officer's salary per month starts at a basic pay of ₹56,100, the first cell of Level 10 of the pay matrix, and rises to a fixed ₹2,25,000 at the Apex Scale, Level 17. The one post above that, the Cabinet Secretary, is at ₹2,50,000 (Level 18). The Indian Administrative Service (Pay) Rules, 2016 fix basic pay grade by grade, and allowances are paid on top under separate rules. Dearness allowance is paid at the Central Government rate, 60% of basic pay from 1 January 2026, so a new IAS officer's basic pay plus DA is ₹89,760 a month.

Below: the salary per month at every pay level, how the levels replaced the old grade pay, how basic pay rises with increments and promotions, the allowances that depend on the posting, and where the 8th Pay Commission stands. Every figure comes from the official rules and the Government's orders.

What "basic pay" means

The pay rules define basic pay as "the pay drawn in the specified Level in the Pay Matrix". The pay matrix is a table. Each grade of the service sits on one level, and each level is a column of cells, each a little higher than the one above. Increments move you down the cells of your level; promotion moves you across to a higher level.

Level 10, the Junior Scale where every direct recruit starts, has 40 cells, from ₹56,100 to ₹1,77,500. The CSE Rules 2026 add that a probationer starts on the junior time scale and counts the probation period towards leave, pension and increments.

IAS salary per month at every level

The IAS has eight grades. The CSE Rules 2026 print the pay range of each level, and the pay rules add the Cabinet Secretary. The last column adds dearness allowance at 60% to the first cell of each level, the lowest basic pay in the grade. Most officers in a grade are paid more: increments move pay down the level, and on promotion to the Senior Time Scale, the Junior Administrative Grade and the Selection Grade the rules add two extra increments (see how basic pay grows). All figures are before house rent allowance, other allowances and deductions.

• When each grade opens. Under rule 3 of the pay rules an officer becomes eligible for the Senior Time Scale after 4 years of service, the Junior Administrative Grade after 9, the Selection Grade after 13 and the Super Time Scale after 16, counted from the year of allotment.
• Level 13 starts at ₹1,23,100. That is the Selection Grade range in the CSE Rules 2026, ₹1,23,100 to ₹2,15,900, and DoPT's office memorandum of 6 October 2022 on IAS pay fixation uses the same level, with ₹1,26,800 as its second cell. The pay matrix in DoPT's copy of the IAS (Pay) Rules (Appendix I, as substituted in July 2017) starts Level 13 at ₹1,18,500 instead; this page follows the CSE Rules.
• No Level 16. The rules go straight from the Higher Administrative Grade (Level 15) to the Apex Scale (Level 17).
• Selection, not just seniority. From the Selection Grade up, appointment is "by selection on merit" with due regard to seniority, and only against available vacancies, which the state must clear with the Central Government.
• Training is a condition. The Junior Administrative Grade needs the Phase III mid-career training, and the Super Time Scale needs Phase IV. LBSNAA and IAS training covers both.

Grades are not the same as posts. Which post an officer holds at each level, from Under Secretary to Cabinet Secretary in the Government of India and from district posts to Chief Secretary in a state, is set out in IAS ranks and hierarchy.

Pay level and the old grade pay

Before 2016, pay was set as a pay band plus a "grade pay". When the Union Cabinet approved the 7th Pay Commission's recommendations on 29 June 2016, with effect from 1 January 2016, it dispensed with pay bands and grade pay and brought in the pay matrix. In the Cabinet's words, an employee's status, "hitherto determined by grade pay", is now determined by the level in the pay matrix. So an IAS officer today has a pay level, not a grade pay.

The pay matrix printed with the IAS (Pay) Rules shows which old grade pay each level took over:

Grade	Old grade pay	Pay level now
Junior Scale	₹5,400	10
Senior Time Scale	₹6,600	11
Junior Administrative Grade	₹7,600	12
Selection Grade	₹8,700	13
Super Time Scale	₹10,000	14

The grades above these had a pay scale of their own rather than a grade pay. They are now Levels 15 (Higher Administrative Grade), 17 (Apex Scale) and 18 (Cabinet Secretary).

How basic pay grows

• Increments. Each increment moves you one cell down your level. The rules fix two increment dates, 1 January and 1 July: if you were appointed or promoted between 2 January and 1 July your increment falls on 1 January, and otherwise on 1 July.
• Departmental examinations. The state government sanctions a direct recruit's second and third increments after he or she passes the departmental examinations the state prescribes; the third is granted with retrospective effect on completing probation and being confirmed. If the examinations are not passed in time, the state may withhold an increment, though not with cumulative effect.
• Promotion to the Senior Time Scale, Junior Administrative Grade or Selection Grade. You get one increment in your old level, move to the equal cell (or the next higher one) in the new level, and then get two additional increments, moving two more cells down.
• Promotion to the Super Time Scale or the Higher Administrative Grade. One increment in the old level, then the equal or next higher cell in the new level. In the Higher Administrative Grade, pay cannot be below ₹1,82,200 or above ₹2,24,100.
• Your choice of date. On promotion you may have your pay fixed from the date of promotion or from the date of your next increment in the lower scale.
• After 28 years. An officer who has completed 28 years of service becomes eligible for an increment, with retrospective effect, after completing Phase V of the mid-career training.

Allowances paid on top

Basic pay is only part of the salary. The official texts name the allowances but leave their rates to separate orders:

• Dearness allowance. Rule 3 of the All India Services (Dearness Allowance) Rules, 1972 gives IAS officers DA at the rates the Central Government sets for officers of the Central Civil Services, Group A, and DoPT has said that the Finance Ministry's DA orders apply to them "ipso facto". The Government raised DA for Central Government employees by 2% over the existing 58% of basic pay, to 60%, with effect from 1 January 2026 (announced on 18 April 2026).
• Other allowances and benefits. DoPT's compilation of All India Services rules includes separate rules on house rent allowance (1977), compensatory allowance (1954), travelling allowance (1954), leave travel concession (1975) and medical attendance (1954).
• Allowances tied to a post. Posts named in Schedule II of the pay rules carry their pay "plus Special Allowance or Central (Deputation on Tenure) Allowance, wherever admissible". The Central (Deputation on Tenure) Allowance is attached to the Director, Deputy Secretary and Under Secretary posts in the Government of India.
• Pay protection at the Centre. If an officer on deputation to the Central Government would draw less than in the parent cadre, the difference is protected as personal pay.

Be wary of any single "IAS in-hand salary" figure. In-hand pay also depends on house rent allowance or government housing, allowances that differ with the post held, and income tax and other deductions, and no official document publishes one. Basic pay plus DA, in the table above, is the part fixed by the rules and the Government's DA orders.

IAS salary and the 8th Pay Commission

The Government announced the 8th Central Pay Commission in January 2025. The Union Cabinet approved its terms of reference on 28 October 2025, and the Commission was constituted by a notification of 3 November 2025, with 18 months to submit its report. Because pay commission recommendations have usually been implemented every ten years, the Government's release says the effect of the 8th Pay Commission's recommendations "would normally be expected from 01.01.2026".

Until the Commission reports and the Government decides on its recommendations, IAS pay stays on the pay matrix in force since 1 January 2016, shown above, with dearness allowance revised by Government orders. No official figure for pay under the 8th Pay Commission exists yet, so treat any such number you see as a guess.

For how a whole career unfolds, grade by grade, see the IAS career journey; for the IPS figures, see IAS vs IPS.