Death gratuity

Death gratuity is a lump sum paid to the family of a central government servant who dies in service, at 2 to 33 times emoluments by length of qualifying service under Rule 45(1)(b) of the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, subject to a ceiling of Rs. 25 lakh. Emoluments are basic pay plus the dearness allowance admissible on the date of death, which is 60% of basic pay from 1 January 2026. No minimum service is required: the entitlement runs from the first day of service, and the whole amount is exempt from income tax.

It is the counterpart of the retirement gratuity, and it exists because the retirement formula, one-fourth of emoluments per completed six months under Rule 45(1)(a), would leave the family of an employee who died after fourteen months with less than a month’s pay. Rule 45(1)(b) replaces that with fixed slabs at the short-service end, so the family of an employee who dies in the second year draws 6 times emoluments rather than 0.5 times. Above 20 years of service the two formulae converge in shape and diverge in rate: the death gratuity accrues at half of emoluments per completed six months against the retirement gratuity’s one-fourth, so it reaches 33 times where the retirement gratuity reaches 16.5.

The death gratuity sits alongside the family pension under Rule 50, which pays 50% of pay a month for ten years from the day following the death before stepping down to 30%. The lump sum and the monthly pension are separate entitlements and the family draws both. The pay base differs: dearness allowance counts towards gratuity emoluments under the second proviso to Rule 45(6) and does not count towards the family pension, which is computed on pay under Rule 31 or average emoluments under Rule 32, whichever is more.

This article sets out the Rule 45(1)(b) slabs, the Rule 31 emoluments base and what happens where the employee was on leave or under suspension at death, the three-month rounding in Rule 45(4), the Rs. 25 lakh ceiling and the dearness-allowance trigger that moves it, the express provision for death by suicide, nomination in Form 3 under Rule 46 and the two-group order in Rule 47 where no nomination subsists, the bars in Rules 48 and 49, the residuary gratuity under Rule 45(3), the claim and sanction machinery in Rules 71 to 75, interest under Rule 65, the separate and slower route for a missing employee under Rule 51, death on deputation under Rule 78, the position under the National Pension System, and the income-tax exemption. Every figure is cited to the gazette text of the Rules notified as G.S.R. 868(E) on 20 December 2021, or to the order that changed it.

Slab table under Rule 45(1)(b)

The death gratuity runs on five slabs of qualifying service, set out in the Table in Rule 45(1)(b) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, and the first four are flat multiples rather than accruals.

The flat bands are the design decision, and they are what a per-period accrual cannot do. An employee who dies after fourteen months leaves the family 6 times monthly emoluments; on the retirement-gratuity accrual of one-fourth per six months the same service would yield half of one month’s emoluments. The step from 12 times at the five-year mark to 20 times at eleven years is likewise a step, not a slope, so a death at ten years and eleven months and a death at eleven years and one month are separated by 8 times emoluments.

Only the last band accrues. At 20 years or more the gratuity is half of emoluments for every completed six-monthly period, which works out to one times emoluments for each full year, so 24 years gives 24 times and 30 years gives 30 times. The 33 times maximum is reached at 66 completed six-monthly periods, that is 33 years, and further service adds nothing. The second proviso to Rule 45(1) rounds the final figure off to the next higher rupee.

Emoluments: the Rule 31 base plus dearness allowance

Emoluments for the death gratuity are the basic pay the employee was drawing on the date of death, reckoned under Rule 31 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, plus the dearness allowance admissible on that date under the second proviso to Rule 45(6). Dearness allowance is 60% of basic pay from 1 January 2026 under Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B) dated 22 April 2026, so emoluments in 2026 are 1.6 times basic pay. Non-practising allowance granted to a medical officer in lieu of private practice forms part of emoluments under Rule 31(1), and the Explanation to that sub-rule treats a stagnation increment as emoluments for calculating retirement benefits.

Basic pay is the cell of the pay matrix the employee occupied on the date of death. An employee at the Level 7 entry cell of Rs. 44,900 has emoluments of Rs. 71,840; one at the Level 10 entry cell of Rs. 56,100 has emoluments of Rs. 89,760. Because dearness allowance enters the base, a revision of the rate raises every death gratuity computed after it: the move from 50% to 60% between January 2024 and January 2026 raised emoluments by one fifteenth.

The first proviso to Rule 45(6) protects against a fall in pay near the end. Where the emoluments of a government servant have been reduced during the last ten months of service, average emoluments as referred to in Rule 32 are treated as emoluments instead, so a reduction in the closing months cannot pull the whole gratuity down with it.

Death during leave or suspension

Rule 31 answers the case where the employee was not drawing full pay on the date of death, and the answer runs in the family’s favour in the ordinary case. Where the government servant was absent immediately before death on leave for which leave salary is payable, or on extraordinary leave on medical certificate, or had been suspended and reinstated without forfeiture of service, Rule 31(2) treats the emoluments the employee would have drawn had there been no absence or suspension as emoluments. The proviso excludes an increase in pay that was not actually drawn, other than an increment earned while on leave and not withheld, which Rule 31(5) expressly includes.

The position reverses where the leave does not count as service. Under Rule 31(4), where the employee was on extraordinary leave that does not count as qualifying service, or was under suspension, the period of which does not count, the emoluments drawn immediately before proceeding on that leave or being placed under suspension form the emoluments. A higher post held in an officiating or temporary capacity before proceeding on leave counts under Rule 31(3) only where it is certified that the employee would have continued to hold it but for the leave.

Counting qualifying service: the three-month rounding in Rule 45(4)

Qualifying service is rounded up from three months, not down. Rule 45(4) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 provides that in calculating the length of qualifying service under that rule, a fraction of a year equal to three months and above is treated as a completed six-monthly period and reckoned as qualifying service. An employee with 20 years and four months of qualifying service is credited with 41 completed six-monthly periods and draws 20.5 times emoluments; one with 20 years and two months is credited with 40 and draws 20 times.

The rounding decides the slab as well as the accrual. It matters most at the boundaries in the Table, where the difference between two adjacent bands is 6 or 8 times emoluments rather than half of one. The general treatment of what counts towards the total, and what does not, is in the qualifying service article.

Nothing is added for service the employee would have rendered had they lived. The death gratuity is computed on service actually rendered up to the date of death, which is why the first four bands pay flat multiples rather than accruals. The notional extension of service belongs to the enhanced family pension, which pays 50% of pay for ten years after a death in service irrespective of how short the service was.

The Rs. 25 lakh ceiling

The rupee ceiling on the death gratuity is Rs. 25 lakh with effect from 1 January 2024, raised from Rs. 20 lakh by Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare Office Memorandum No. 28/03/2024-P&PW(B)/Gratuity/9559 dated 30 May 2024. The gazette text of the first proviso to Rule 45(1), as notified on 20 December 2021, still reads twenty lakh rupees, which is one reason the older figure is quoted so often; the operative limit is the one the Office Memorandum set.

The ceiling moves on dearness allowance, not on a pay commission. Under the decisions taken on the 7th Central Pay Commission recommendations, communicated by Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare Office Memorandum No. 38/37/2016-P&PW(A)(i) dated 4 August 2016, it rises by 25% each time the dearness allowance rate rises by 50%. Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum No. 1/1/2024-E-II(B) dated 12 March 2024 took dearness allowance from 46% to 50% with effect from 1 January 2024, and that crossing triggered the enhancement from the same date without a separate decision. The next step, to Rs. 31.25 lakh, follows when dearness allowance crosses 100%.

Two caps therefore operate at once and the lower governs: the formula stops at 33 times emoluments and the rupee ceiling stops at Rs. 25 lakh. The ceiling binds well before 33 years for anyone in the senior levels. An employee at Level 13 drawing basic pay of Rs. 1,23,100 has emoluments of Rs. 1,96,960, so the formula crosses Rs. 25 lakh at 13 completed years, and every longer career at that level is paid Rs. 25 lakh flat.

Death by suicide

Rule 45(2) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 provides that the death-gratuity clause applies in the case of death of a government servant by suicide. The slabs, the emoluments base, the rounding and the ceiling operate exactly as they do on any other death in service, and the family pension under Rule 50 is unaffected. The provision is express, which forecloses the question rather than leaving it to inference.

One bar sits in Rule 48. Where a person otherwise eligible to receive the gratuity is charged with murdering the government servant or with abetting the offence, Rule 48(1) suspends that claimant’s share until the criminal proceedings conclude, and the Explanation to Rule 48 extends the charge to abetting death by suicide. On conviction the person is debarred and the share is paid to the other eligible members of the family under Rule 48(2)(a); on acquittal the share is paid to them under Rule 48(2)(b). The bar reaches the individual claimant, not the entitlement.

Nomination under Rule 46

Rule 46(1) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 requires a government servant, on initial appointment to a service or post, to make a nomination in Form 3 conferring on one or more persons the right to receive the retirement gratuity and the death gratuity payable under Rule 45. The nomination is the primary route: Rule 47(1)(a) pays the gratuity to whoever it names, and the default order in Rule 47(1)(b) applies only where there is no nomination or the nomination does not subsist.

The choice of nominee is constrained. Under Rule 46(2), an employee who has one or more members of family as defined in the Explanation below Rule 45(6) must nominate a member or members of that family; only an employee with no such family may nominate a person, persons, or a body of individuals outside it. Where more than one person is nominated, Rule 46(3) requires the nomination to specify the share of each. A nomination should be revised after a marriage, a birth, or a death in the family, and the general machinery is in the nomination for pension and gratuity article.

The family defined for this purpose in the Explanation below Rule 45(6) is wider than the family that draws a monthly family pension. It runs to eleven clauses: wife or wives including a judicially separated wife, husband including a judicially separated husband, sons including stepsons and adopted sons, unmarried daughters including stepdaughters and adopted daughters, widowed or divorced daughters, father, mother, brothers suffering from a disorder or disability of mind or physically crippled or disabled without any age limit and other brothers below eighteen years, unmarried, widowed and divorced sisters, married daughters, and the children of a predeceased son. Adoptive parents count where personal law permits adoption.

Payment where there is no nomination: the two groups in Rule 47

Rule 47(1)(b) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 splits the family into two groups and exhausts the first before reaching the second. Where there is no nomination or the nomination does not subsist, the death gratuity is paid in equal shares to the surviving members falling in clauses (i) to (v) of the Explanation below Rule 45(6): the spouse, sons including stepsons and adopted sons, unmarried daughters, and widowed or divorced daughters. Only if no member of that group survives is the gratuity paid, again in equal shares, to the members in clauses (vi) to (xi): the father, the mother, disabled brothers of any age and other brothers below eighteen, unmarried, widowed and divorced sisters, married daughters, and the children of a predeceased son.

A married daughter is therefore in the second group and takes nothing while a spouse, a son or an unmarried daughter survives, which is the point most often got wrong in the absence of a nomination. The equal-shares rule leaves the sanctioning authority no discretion over proportions, which is the practical argument for filing a nomination that fixes them.

Rule 47 carries four protections around the edges. Where a nominee predeceased the employee and the right has not passed on under Rule 46(4), Rule 47(2) disburses that share equally among all other members of the family who were eligible and alive on the date of death, including the other nominees. Rule 47(4) preserves the share of a female member or a brother who marries, remarries, or attains eighteen after the death and before receiving the share. Rule 47(5) pays a minor’s share to the guardian, and Rule 47(7) allows payment to a guardian without a guardianship certificate against an indemnity bond in Format 7. Rule 47(8) stops one slow claimant from holding up the rest: where a member has not submitted a claim in Form 9, the cases of the other eligible members are processed without linking them to it.

Debarring and lapse: Rules 48 and 49

Two provisions can keep the death gratuity from a claimant, and both are narrow. Rule 48 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 suspends the share of a person charged with murdering the government servant, or with abetting the offence, until the criminal proceedings conclude, debars that person on conviction, and releases the share on acquittal. The Explanation brings abetment of death by suicide within the charge, and Rule 48(3) applies the same treatment to undisbursed gratuity in the hands of the department under Rule 47(3).

Rule 49 lapses the gratuity to the Government where the employee dies in service or after retirement without receiving it, leaves behind no family, and either made no nomination or left one that does not subsist. The proviso to Rule 49 keeps a single route open: the amount is payable to the person in whose favour a court of law has granted a succession certificate in respect of that gratuity. A lapse therefore requires the absence of a family, not merely a dispute within one.

Death gratuity and family pension together

The death gratuity and the family pension are separate entitlements and the family draws both, with neither abating the other. The death gratuity under Rule 45(1)(b) is the one-time lump sum, computed on emoluments including dearness allowance. The family pension under Rule 50 is the monthly payment, and Rule 50(1) grants it where the employee dies after completing one year of continuous service, or before completing one year where the employee was medically examined and declared fit for government service at appointment.

The rate is enhanced first. Under Rule 50(2)(a)(ii), where a government servant dies while in service the family pension is 50% of pay, payable from the day following the date of death for ten years, and it then steps down to the ordinary rate of 30% of pay under Rule 50(2)(a)(i). Rule 50(2)(a)(iv) sets a floor of Rs. 9,000 a month and a ceiling of Rs. 1,25,000 on the enhanced rate, and the ordinary rate is capped at Rs. 75,000. Dearness relief is paid on top under Rule 52. The family pension calculation article works the monthly figure through.

Pay for the family pension means emoluments under Rule 31 or average emoluments under Rule 32, whichever is more, and dearness allowance is not added to it. That is the structural difference between the two benefits on a single death: the lump sum is computed on 1.6 times basic pay in 2026, the pension on basic pay alone.

Residuary gratuity under Rule 45(3)

Residuary gratuity is the top-up that guarantees a retiree’s family 12 times emoluments across the first five years after retirement. Rule 45(3) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 grants it where a government servant who became eligible for a service gratuity or pension on retirement, including compulsory retirement as a penalty, dies within five years of retirement, and the sums actually received by the date of death on account of that gratuity or pension, together with the retirement gratuity under Rule 45(1) and the commuted value of any portion of pension commuted, are less than 12 times emoluments. The deficiency is granted to the family in the manner set by Rule 47(1), so the nomination and the two-group order apply to it as they do to the death gratuity.

It bites where the retirement gratuity was small because service was short, and it is nil for most full careers, where the retirement gratuity alone approaches 16.5 times emoluments. The computation is worked through in the residuary gratuity article.

Claim, sanction and the 100% drawal under Rule 75

The department starts the case, not the family. Rule 71(1) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 requires the Head of Office, on receiving intimation of the death of a government servant in service, to ascertain whether a death gratuity or family pension or both are payable; Rule 71(2) requires him to find out whether a nomination exists and, if not, who is entitled, and then to write to those persons in Format 11 asking for a claim in Form 9. The family pension claim is sought in Form 10 under Rule 71(3).

Payment is at the full rate, not a provisional fraction. Once the case has gone to the Accounts Officer under Rule 74, Rule 75(5) requires the Head of Office to draw 100% of the death gratuity as determined under the Rules, after deducting the dues indicated under Rule 74(3), and Rule 75(6) requires him to disburse it immediately after it is drawn. The 90% provisional payment with 10% withheld belongs to the retirement case, not to a death in service.

Rule 75(7) covers the case where the service record cannot be verified at once. The gratuity is then determined provisionally under Rule 45(1)(b) on the spell of qualifying service already verified and accepted immediately before the date of death, authorised by the Head of Office within one month of the intimation of death where a Form 9 claim has been received, and the final amount is fixed within three months of the provisional authority, with the balance authorised then. Provisional family pension runs in parallel under Rule 75(1), drawn within fifteen days of the claim and continuing for six months.

Government dues recoverable from the death gratuity

Very little can be taken out of a death gratuity, and the licence fee on government accommodation is expressly written off. Rule 71(4)(a) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 waives the outstanding licence fee payable for the period before the date of death. Rule 71(4)(b) recovers any dues relating to damages to the accommodation from the death gratuity, and where the family retains the accommodation, does not recover the licence fee for the month in which the employee died or for the first three months after it. Rule 71(4)(c) requires the Head of Office to address the Directorate of Estates within seven days of the intimation of death for the No Demand Certificate under Rule 77(1).

Other dues are assessed and capped. Rule 74(4) requires the Head of Office to draw the Accounts Officer’s attention to dues ascertained under Rule 77 and recoverable before payment is authorised, and to the amount to be held over for dues not yet assessed and as a margin against the final determination of the gratuity. Rule 74(4)(c) limits the amount held over for that purpose to 10% of the gratuity. The wider machinery is in the withholding and recovery from gratuity article.

Withholding: why Rule 8 does not reach a death in service

The power to withhold a gratuity in Rule 8 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 is a power over a pensioner. Rule 8(1) reserves to the President the right to withhold a pension or gratuity, in full or in part, and to order recovery of a pecuniary loss caused to the Government, where the pensioner is found guilty of grave misconduct or negligence in departmental or judicial proceedings, after consulting the Union Public Service Commission. Rule 8(4)(c), which bars payment of the gratuity until proceedings conclude, applies to a government servant referred to in Rule 8(3), that is one who has retired and against whom proceedings are instituted or continued.

Nothing in that machinery is directed at an employee who dies in service, and the death-gratuity provisions run the other way: Rule 75(5) requires 100% to be drawn and Rule 75(6) requires immediate disbursement, subject only to the Rule 74(4) dues and the 10% margin. Rule 65(5)(e) confirms the direction of travel for the retired case as well, providing interest on gratuity from three months after the date of death where proceedings against a retiree were dropped in consequence of the death.

The one bar aimed at a death in service is the personal one in Rule 48, which suspends and then debars the share of a claimant charged with and convicted of murdering the employee or abetting the death. The relevant departmental inquiry machinery under the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965 governs proceedings against a serving employee, and Rule 8(2)(b) provides that proceedings instituted under Rule 16 of those Rules and continued after retirement have no effect on the pension and gratuity at all.

Interest on delayed payment under Rule 65

Interest runs from three months after the date of death. Rule 65(5)(b) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 provides that where a government servant dies during service or after retirement, interest is payable from the day following the expiry of three months from the date of death up to the date of payment of the arrears of pension or gratuity. The rate is the rate applicable to the General Provident Fund under Rule 65(1), and the condition is that the delay is clearly established to be attributable to administrative reasons or lapses.

The proviso to Rule 65(1) removes interest where the delay was caused by the failure of the government servant, the pensioner or the family member to comply with the procedure laid down for processing the case. Interest is not automatic in the accounting sense either: Rule 65(2) requires the case to be considered by the Secretary of the Ministry or Department, or an officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary authorised by him, who sanctions the payment on being satisfied that the delay was administrative, and Rule 65(3)(b) requires the interest to be paid within two months of that sanction.

Delay is also traced to a person. Rule 65(4) requires the Ministry, Department or office to fix responsibility and take disciplinary action against the government servants found responsible for the delay, and its proviso requires the interest to be paid without waiting for the outcome of those proceedings.

A missing employee: the slower route in Rule 51

Where an employee disappears, the family is not paid the death gratuity at once, and the difference from an ordinary death in service is the point most guidance gets wrong. Rule 51(4) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 pays the family the retirement gratuity, in the manner applicable where a government servant dies after retirement without having received it. The death gratuity becomes payable under Rule 51(8)(b) only after the death is conclusively established, or on the expiry of seven years from the date the report was lodged with the police, whichever is earlier, and Rule 51(8)(c) then pays the difference between the death gratuity and the retirement gratuity already paid, not later than three months from the claim for that difference.

Three conditions gate the first payment. Rule 51(5)(a) requires the claim to be made to the Head of Office after a First Information Report, a Daily Diary Entry or a General Diary Entry has been lodged with the police station concerned. Rule 51(5)(b) requires an indemnity bond in Format 8, a copy of the police report, and a report from the police that the person could not be traced despite all efforts. Rule 51(8)(a) bars payment of the gratuity or the family pension before six months have elapsed from the date the report was lodged.

Emoluments are taken from before the disappearance, not from the date of the report. Rule 51(6) reckons the emoluments for the gratuity under Rule 45(6) on the pay on the last date the employee was on duty before going missing, or, where the employee was on leave, on the date the sanctioned leave expired. Family pension under Rule 51(1) runs from the latest of the date up to which leave was sanctioned, the date up to which pay and allowances were paid, and the date of the police report. Rule 51(9) adds the arrears of pay and allowances, the cash equivalent of leave salary and the General Provident Fund balance on the same footing as a death in service.

Rule 51(10) shuts the whole rule out in one situation: it does not apply where the person who disappears is under investigation for, or has been charged with or convicted of, fraud, embezzlement or any other crime. Rule 51(11) bars payment to anyone outside the eligible members of the family.

Death on deputation or foreign service

Rule 78 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 fixes who acts when the death occurs away from the parent office, which is the question that otherwise stalls a case between two departments. Where the employee dies or goes missing on deputation to another central government department, Rule 78(1) puts the authorisation of the family pension and gratuity on the Head of Office of the borrowing department. Where the death or disappearance is on deputation to a State Government or on foreign service, Rule 78(2) puts it on the Head of Office or the cadre authority that sanctioned the deputation.

The entitlement itself does not change with the posting. The slabs, the emoluments base under Rule 31 with dearness allowance added, the Rs. 25 lakh ceiling and the nomination all operate as they do for an employee who dies in the parent department.

Death gratuity under the National Pension System and the Unified Pension Scheme

An employee covered by the National Pension System leaves the family the same death gratuity as a colleague on the Old Pension Scheme. The Central Civil Services (Payment of Gratuity under National Pension System) Rules, 2021, notified as G.S.R. 658(E) on 23 September 2021, carry the retirement gratuity and the death gratuity on the same formula, the same 16.5 times and 33 times maxima and the same rupee ceiling, with Rule 22 of those Rules setting out the events that trigger the entitlement. The Office Memorandum of 30 May 2024 raising the ceiling to Rs. 25 lakh names both the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 and those Rules.

Subscribers to the Unified Pension Scheme, operative from 1 April 2025, are covered under the same gratuity rules. The gratuity is paid by the Government from the Consolidated Fund and is separate from, and additional to, whatever the accumulated corpus yields on death, so it is not reduced by a withdrawal from the corpus. The rule-by-rule treatment is in the gratuity under the NPS Rules, 2021 article.

Income-tax exemption

Death gratuity paid to the family of a central government employee is exempt from income tax in full, with no monetary limit. For income from 1 April 2026 the exemption is at serial number 3 of the Table in Section 19(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, which exempts the death-cum-retirement gratuity in its entirety; for income up to 31 March 2026 it is Section 10(10)(i) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The whole amount, up to the Rs. 25 lakh the pension rules allow, reaches the family untaxed.

The Rs. 25 lakh figure is not a tax cap, and treating it as one is the standard error. It is the ceiling on the amount payable under Rule 45, and the exemption above it would be unlimited if a larger amount were payable. The capped exemption belongs to non-government employees, under Section 10(10)(iii) of the 1961 Act and its counterpart in the 2025 Act.

The family pension that runs alongside is taxed differently, and the two should not be conflated. It is taxable in the recipient’s hands with a deduction of Rs. 25,000 under Section 57(iia) in the new regime, where the death gratuity is not taxable at all. The wider position is in the income tax for pensioners article.

Comparison of the four gratuities

The CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 pay four gratuities, and the death gratuity is distinguished from the other three by having no minimum-service condition and the largest multiples.

The service gratuity is the odd one out: it is paid in place of a monthly pension to a short-career retiree, while the death gratuity and the retirement gratuity are alternatives to each other on the same career. The overview of all four is in the gratuity for central government employees article, and the arithmetic can be run on the gratuity calculator.

Worked examples

The death gratuity is emoluments multiplied by the slab factor, capped at Rs. 25 lakh and rounded to the next higher rupee. Dearness allowance is taken at 60%, so emoluments are 1.6 times basic pay.

• A death after 8 months on basic pay of Rs. 35,000 gives emoluments of Rs. 56,000 in the less-than-1-year slab, so the gratuity is 2 times Rs. 56,000, that is Rs. 1,12,000.
• A death after 3 years on basic pay of Rs. 44,900 gives emoluments of Rs. 71,840 in the 1-to-under-5-years slab, so the gratuity is 6 times Rs. 71,840, that is Rs. 4,31,040.
• A death after 8 years on basic pay of Rs. 60,000 gives emoluments of Rs. 96,000 in the 5-to-under-11-years slab, so the gratuity is 12 times Rs. 96,000, that is Rs. 11,52,000.
• A death after 15 years on basic pay of Rs. 78,800 gives emoluments of Rs. 1,26,080 in the 11-to-under-20-years slab, so the formula gives 20 times Rs. 1,26,080, that is Rs. 25,21,600, which exceeds the ceiling, and Rs. 25 lakh is paid.
• A death after 20 years and 4 months on basic pay of Rs. 50,000 gives emoluments of Rs. 80,000 in the 20-years-or-more band. Rule 45(4) rounds the four months up to a completed six-monthly period, giving 41 periods, so the gratuity is 20.5 times Rs. 80,000, that is Rs. 16,40,000, and not the Rs. 16,00,000 a rounding down would produce.
• A death after 34 years on basic pay of Rs. 1,00,000 gives emoluments of Rs. 1,60,000, and the formula stops at 33 times, that is Rs. 52,80,000, so the ceiling governs and Rs. 25 lakh is paid.

In each case the amount is fully exempt from income tax and is paid over and above the family pension, and the four-month case is the one that shows why the rounding rule is worth reading: it is worth Rs. 40,000 on emoluments of Rs. 80,000.

Bearing on the 8th Central Pay Commission

The death-gratuity ceiling is tied to dearness allowance rather than to a pay commission, so it moves between commissions on its own: it went from Rs. 20 lakh to Rs. 25 lakh when dearness allowance crossed 50% on 1 January 2024, and the next step to Rs. 31.25 lakh follows when dearness allowance crosses 100%. The 8th Central Pay Commission, constituted by Ministry of Finance Resolution F. No. 01-01/2025-E.III(A) dated 3 November 2025, will examine the retirement-benefit framework, and a pay revision that resets basic pay raises the emoluments every gratuity is computed on.

Until the Commission reports and revised rules are notified, the death gratuity continues on the Rule 45(1)(b) slabs, with the Rs. 25 lakh ceiling and emoluments including dearness allowance at 60% from 1 January 2026. Any revised ceiling, slab or emoluments base attributed to the 8th Central Pay Commission is a projection.

Related Articles

• Gratuity for central government employees
• Service gratuity
• Residuary gratuity
• Withholding and recovery from gratuity
• Gratuity under the NPS Rules, 2021
• Family pension
• Enhanced family pension
• Family pension calculation
• Nomination of pension and gratuity
• CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021
• CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965
• Departmental inquiry
• Provisional pension
• No Demand Certificate
• Central government pension
• Central government pension calculation
• Commutation of pension
• Qualifying service
• Superannuation
• Invalid pension
• Disability and invalid pension
• General Provident Fund
• Leave encashment
• Foreign service
• Old Pension Scheme
• National Pension System
• Unified Pension Scheme
• Income-tax Act, 2025
• Income tax for pensioners
• Dearness allowance
• Dearness relief
• Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare
• Central Pension Accounting Office
• Pay matrix
• 7th Central Pay Commission
• 8th Central Pay Commission
• Central government employees in India
• Gratuity calculator

External references

• Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare
• Pensioners’ Portal
• Central Pension Accounting Office
• Income Tax Department
• Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance
• The Gazette of India

References

1. Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, notified as G.S.R. 868(E) on 20 December 2021: Rule 45(1)(b) and the Table of death-gratuity slabs, Rule 45(1) provisos (the rupee ceiling and rounding to the next higher rupee), Rule 45(2) (death by suicide), Rule 45(3) (residuary gratuity), Rule 45(4) (three months and above treated as a completed six-monthly period), Rule 45(5) (four years nine months treated as five), and Rule 45(6) with its provisos and the Explanation defining family.
2. Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, Rule 31 (emoluments, including the treatment of leave, extraordinary leave, suspension, an officiating higher post and a stagnation increment) and Rule 32 (average emoluments).
3. Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, Rule 46 (nomination in Form 3), Rule 47 (persons to whom gratuity is payable, the two groups, the predeceased nominee, the guardian and the indemnity bond in Format 7, and the Form 9 claim), Rule 48 (debarring a person charged with murder or with abetting death by suicide) and Rule 49 (lapse to the Government, with the succession-certificate proviso).
4. Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, Rule 50 (family pension, with the enhanced rate of 50% of pay for ten years on death in service at Rule 50(2)(a)(ii)) and Rule 52 (dearness relief).
5. Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, Rule 51 (entitlements of the family of a missing government servant: the retirement gratuity first, the six-month bar, the seven-year point at which the death gratuity becomes payable, the difference between the two, the indemnity bond in Format 8, and the exclusion where a crime is under investigation).
6. Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, Rule 65 (interest on delayed payment at the General Provident Fund rate, running from three months after the date of death under Rule 65(5)(b)), Rule 71 (obtaining claims, and the waiver of licence fee), Rule 74 (forwarding the case, with the 10% held-over limit), Rule 75 (drawal of 100% of the death gratuity and provisional gratuity), Rule 77 (adjustment of government dues) and Rule 78 (death on deputation or foreign service).
7. Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, Rule 8 (power to withhold or withdraw pension or gratuity, directed at a pensioner in departmental or judicial proceedings).
8. Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare, Office Memorandum No. 28/03/2024-P&PW(B)/Gratuity/9559 dated 30 May 2024, enhancing the maximum limit of retirement gratuity and death gratuity from Rs. 20 lakh to Rs. 25 lakh with effect from 1 January 2024, under the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 and the CCS (Payment of Gratuity under National Pension System) Rules, 2021.
9. Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare, Office Memorandum No. 38/37/2016-P&PW(A)(i) dated 4 August 2016, the parent instruction on the revision of pension, gratuity, commutation and family pension following the 7th Central Pay Commission, carrying the 25% enhancement of the ceiling on each 50% rise in dearness allowance.
10. Department of Expenditure, Office Memorandum No. 1/1/2024-E-II(B) dated 12 March 2024, raising dearness allowance from 46% to 50% with effect from 1 January 2024, the crossing that triggered the ceiling enhancement; and Office Memorandum No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B) dated 22 April 2026, fixing dearness allowance at 60% from 1 January 2026.
11. Central Civil Services (Payment of Gratuity under National Pension System) Rules, 2021, notified as G.S.R. 658(E) on 23 September 2021, Rule 22 (retirement gratuity and death gratuity).
12. Income-tax Act, 2025, Section 19(1) Table serial number 3 (death-cum-retirement gratuity, entire amount), in force for income from 1 April 2026; and Income-tax Act, 1961, Section 10(10)(i) (gratuity received by a government employee, exempt without limit) and Section 10(10)(iii) (the cap for other employees) for income up to 31 March 2026.
13. Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure, Resolution F. No. 01-01/2025-E.III(A) dated 3 November 2025, constituting the 8th Central Pay Commission.