The IAS salary per month starts at a basic pay of Rs 56,100 for a new officer at Pay Level 10, and it ends at Rs 2,50,000 for the Cabinet Secretary at Level 18. These are the two ends of the pay matrix, and every other IAS post falls between them.
The 7th Pay Commission dropped the old grade pay system and introduced 18 pay levels effective 1 January 2016. Officers in the Senior Time Scale are positioned at Level 11, earning a basic pay of Rs 67,700. The next step, Level 12, where a District Magistrate usually falls, is set at Rs 78,800.
At the higher end, Level 16 for an Additional Chief Secretary carries Rs 2,05,400 and Level 17 is fixed at Rs 2,25,000. Within each level, the basic pay is reported to increase by 3% every year through annual increments.
What gets added to basic pay
Dearness allowance, or DA, is changed twice a year, once in January and again in July, based on a percentage of the basic salary.
The Union Cabinet approved DA of 63% of basic pay from 1 July 2026, up from 60% from 1 January 2026. The government has notified these rates, with 60% from 1 January 2026 and 63% from 1 July 2026. At 63%, the basic pay of Rs 56,100 plus DA for a Level 10 officer comes to near Rs 91,443, as per the writer's own arithmetic.
House rent allowance (HRA) is reported at 30%, 20% and 10% of basic pay for X, Y and Z class cities respectively. Transport allowance is Rs 7,200 a month for Level 9 and above in the higher transport allowance cities and Rs 3,600 elsewhere, with DA added on top of both.
Why in-hand estimates differ
The amount that ends up in an officer's bank account is less than the gross figure because deductions are taken out of the salary each month. The National Pension System (NPS) employee contribution is 10% of basic pay plus DA.
Estimates of the gross in-hand pay for a fresher are also not the same across sites.
The Cabinet approved DA of 63% from 1 July 2026, and on-hand estimates made before that use a lower rate.
