A month’s pay for a starting government officer bought 25.4 g of gold in 2001-02. In 2025-26 it bought 7.5 g.

Central government officers in the Group A services, the IAS among them, start on a fixed entry pay. In 1986-87 a month of it bought 9.8 g of gold. Since then that pay has grown about 39 times in rupees, while the price of gold has grown about 51 times.

What moves the line

Pay is reset at each Pay Commission, marked on the chart, and drifts up with dearness allowance in between. Gold moves with its own market. The line rises when pay outpaces gold and falls when gold pulls ahead.

The grey rule at 2000 is where RBI’s source for gold prices changes. RBI says figures before and after may not be strictly comparable. The last year is provisional: the 8th Pay Commission has not yet reported, and once it does, pay is expected to be revised retrospectively from 1 January 2026, which falls in the final three months of that year.

Pay against the price of gold

Set pay and the price of gold to 100 in 1986-87 and they can share one axis. Pay ran ahead of gold from 1994-95 to 2024-25. In 2025-26 the gold price jumped ahead: pay (provisional) stood at 3,868 and gold at 5,097, from 3,746 and 3,264 a year earlier.

The same pay in silver

How this is worked out

Fiscal-year average of the monthly pay (including grade pay) plus dearness allowance in force on each day, from the curated pay events and DA rates. Entry pay is held fixed within each Pay Commission (no increments); DA merged into pay in 2004 is counted as Dearness Pay.

Fiscal-year average monthly pay divided by the fiscal-year average of “Gold price, Mumbai” (₹ per 10 g), converted to a price per gram.

This is what a starting officer earns, not what a career pays. Promotions and annual increments are left out on purpose, and so are house-rent and travel allowances, which vary by city.

Where the numbers come from

• Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy, Table 35: Average Price of Gold and Silver in Domestic and Foreign Markets

  • Downloaded from the source
  • Third-party figures

  Reserve Bank of India. Retrieved 28 September 2026. Source page.

  • Bombay Bullion Association and Press Trust of India (to 1999-2000)
  • Business Standard/Business Line, Economic Times and the IBJA website (Mumbai, from 2000-01)
  • LBMA (London gold, from 2000-01)
  • Thomson Reuters (New York silver, from 2000-01)
  • RBI notes that data up to 1999-2000 and from 2000-01 onwards may not be strictly comparable because the sources differ.
  • In 4 fiscal years (1996-97, 1998-99, 2000-01, 2019-20) RBI's gold spread does not reconcile with its Mumbai and London figures, by up to ₹1.66 per 10 g (about 0.03% of the price). We cannot tell which published figure is wrong.

• Central Group A entry-level pay and dearness allowance, 1986 onwards

  • Entered from documents

  Compiled from Government of India documents. Retrieved 29 September 2026.

  • 7thpaycommissionnews.in: DA Table: Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief history (4th CPC slab table, 5th, 6th and 7th CPC rates) (secondary)
  • Ministry of Finance, Gazette of India: Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2008 (deemed in force from 1 January 2006; First Schedule row 17: 8000-275-13500 to PB-3 15600-39100, grade pay 5400) (primary)
  • Sixth Central Pay Commission, Government of India: Report of the Sixth Central Pay Commission, Chapter 4.1 Dearness Allowance, paras 4.1.4-4.1.5 (DA rates paid 1.1.96 to 1.7.05 incl. after the 2004 merger) and para on DA of 38% payable as on 1.1.1990 (primary)
  • Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance: Revision of rates of Dearness Allowance to Central Government employees - effective from 01.07.2025 (O.M. No. 1/4(i)/2025-E.II(B), 6 October 2025) (primary)
  • Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance: Revision of rates of Dearness Allowance to Central Government employees - effective from 01.01.2026 (O.M. No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B), 22 April 2026) (primary)
  • Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance: Merger of 50% of Dearness Allowance/Dearness Relief with basic pay/pension w.e.f. 1.4.2004 (O.M. F.No. 105/1/2004-IC, 1 March 2004) (primary)
  • Department of Personnel and Training: The Indian Administrative Service (Pay) Rules, 1954, as compiled by DoPT (Rule 3: Junior Scale Rs.8000-275-13500 w.e.f. 1.1.1996, substituted by DP&T Not. No.14021/2/97-AIS-II-A dated 17.10.1997; pre-1996 senior scales 3200-4700, 3950-5000 and 4800-5700 revised w.e.f. 1.1.1986) (primary)
  • Department of Personnel and Training: The Indian Administrative Service (Pay) Rules, 2016 (deemed in force from 1 January 2016; Junior Scale is Level 10; Appendix I pay matrix, Level 10 index 1 = 56100) (primary)
  • indianpaycalculator.in: DA Rate History 2016-2026: Every Revision Under the 7th CPC (secondary)
  • MCR HRD Institute of Telangana: Pay scales of the 4th to 7th CPC (table mapping 2200-75-2800-100-4000 to the 5th CPC Group A entry scale 8000-275-13500 and PB-3 GP 5400) (secondary)
  • Ministry of Finance: Resolution 50(1)/IC/97: Government decisions on the Fifth Central Pay Commission report (revised scales and DA effective 1-1-1996) (primary)
  • mohsineducational.blogspot.com: D.A Rates Table (4th, 5th, 6th and 7th CPC) (secondary)
  • Wikipedia: Dearness allowance (5th, 6th and 7th CPC rate tables, with the 2004 merger) (secondary)
  • Verification of the curated rows: 1 partial, 27 primary, 1 primary-inferred, 19 three-secondary, 38 two-secondary.
  • DA held back during the 2020-21 freeze is not counted: the rate actually paid (17%) is used.
  • 2025-26 is provisional: the 8th Pay Commission has not yet reported. Once it does, pay is expected to be revised retrospectively from 1 January 2026, which falls in this fiscal year.