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On Monday, after a gap of seven years, the Centre approved a hike in the salaries of MPs, raising them by 24% to Rs 1.24 lakh, from the previous Rs 1 lakh per month.
Besides the increase in the monthly salary, done on the basis of the Cost Inflation Index devised by the Income Tax department, the daily allowance for MPs while attending Parliament sessions and pensions has also been raised. The daily allowance has been hiked from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500, and the pension for former MPs from Rs 25,000 per month to Rs 31,000 per month. The additional pension for every year of service in excess of five years has been increased from Rs 2,000 per month to Rs 2,500 per month.
Until February 2018, Parliament had the power to pass laws to revise the salaries of MPs. Then, through the Finance Act, 2018, Parliament amended the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954 to increase the salary, daily allowance, and pension of MPs every five years on the basis of the Cost Inflation Index.
Back in 1954, the salary of MPs was set at Rs 300 a month, along with a daily allowance of Rs 20 while Parliament was in session. Since then, through a series of amendments, not only has this salary been revised numerous times, but MPs have also been granted several allowances, from travel to maintenance of offices.
In 1955, when the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act was first amended, MPs were given allowances for travel in first-class coaches of the Indian Railways.
The next salary hike came in 1966, with MPs earning Rs 500 per month, an increase of 67% from the existing salary. In 1969, the daily allowance was raised to Rs 51. In 1976, Parliament granted MPs free air travel if circumstances did not allow for travel by rail or road.
In 1983, the salary was raised to Rs 750, amounting to an increase of 50%. That year, the daily allowance was also raised to Rs 75.
There was another hike in 1985, raising an MP’s salary by 33% to Rs 1,000. This amendment also provided MPs 16 flights per year from anywhere in the country while Parliament sessions were ongoing. The monthly pensions for former MPs were hiked from Rs 300 to Rs 500, with members of the Constituent Assembly, which framed the Constitution, also becoming eligible for pensions. MPs were also given advances to purchase vehicles.
Just three years later, in 1988, the salary was again hiked, to Rs 1,500 per month, a 50% increase, with the daily allowance going up to Rs 150. That year’s amendment also introduced an office expense allowance, up to Rs 50,000.
In 1991, the eligibility rules for pensions were relaxed. Former MPs were now entitled to Rs 1,250 per month plus an additional Rs 100 per month for every year an MP held office beyond five years, up to a maximum of Rs 5,000 per month. In 1993, the daily allowance was raised to Rs 200.
The year 1998 saw the biggest jump in MP salaries, which were increased by 167% to Rs 4,000 a month – the biggest increase till then. This was under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government. 2001, again under Vajpayee, saw an even larger hike of 200% to Rs 12,000 a month.
In 2006, by which time the UPA had come to power under Manmohan Singh, salaries saw a relatively modest 33% hike to Rs 16,000, with the daily allowance going up to Rs 1,000 from Rs 400.
Then came 2010, Singh’s second term, marking the largest ever hike in salaries, by 213% to Rs 50,000 per month. The daily allowance was doubled to Rs 2,000.
In 2018, towards the end of the Modi government’s first term, the salary of MPs was doubled to Rs 1 lakh a month, with the hike linked to the Cost Inflation Index and revisions scheduled once every five years.
Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, MPs agreed to take a 30% pay cut for a year, dropping their monthly salaries to Rs 70,000. While the Centre said the decrease would “supplement” its financial resources, an analysis by the PRS Legislative Research found that the reduction in salaries amounted to Rs 54 crore, which was “less than 0.001% of the special economic package (Rs 20 lakh crore) announced by the Centre to fight the Covid-19 pandemic”.
The latest hike, to Rs 1.24 lakh, was the first under the new inflation-linked revision system.
From 1954 to 2025, hence, the salary of MPs has risen by more than 400 times. In the same period, per capita monthly income (at constant 2011-12 prices) has risen, incidentally, by eight times, from Rs 1,131 in 1953-54 to Rs 9,363 in 2024-25, as per the 2024-25 Economic Survey.
Since 2010, an MP’s salary has been more than 10 times greater than the prevailing per capita monthly income. The newly hiked salary is more than 13 times greater than the current per capita monthly income.
Notably, the latest hike comes at a time when the average assets owned by an MP stand at Rs 40.34 crore. In 2020, when the salaries were cut by 30%, the average MP owned assets worth Rs 20.93 crore. And in 2018, when the salaries were linked to inflation, the average assets of MPs were Rs 20.71 crore.
However, MPs still earn less per month than MLAs in 18 states. For instance, Jharkhand gives the highest salaries to MLAs at Rs 2.88 lakh a month, followed by Maharashtra at Rs 2.61 lakh, Manipur and Telangana at Rs 2.5 lakh each, Himachal Pradesh at Rs 2.1 lakh, and Karnataka at Rs 2.05 lakh. The lowest earning MLAs are in Kerala (Rs 70,000 per month), Assam (Rs 80,000), Tripura (Rs 84,000), Delhi (Rs 90,000), and Punjab (Rs 94,000).
On Wednesday, following the hike by the Centre of MP salaries, MLAs in Delhi demanded that their salaries be increased too – they were last increased in March 2023. The Assembly formed a five-member committee to look into the demands after both BJP and AAP legislators raised the issue in the House.
