MACP benchmark

The MACP benchmark is Very Good, an APAR score of 6.0 to below 8.0, from 25 July 2016. How the screening committee applies it and defers upgradations.

Updated 8 August 2026

The MACP benchmark is the performance bar an employee must clear to earn a financial upgradation under the Modified Assured Career Progression scheme. Since the 7th Central Pay Commission, that bar is Very Good, raised from the earlier Good, with effect from 25 July 2016. In practice it means an overall APAR score of 6.0 to below 8.0 on the ten-point scale, assessed over the five preceding years by a departmental screening committee. An employee who does not reach it does not lose the upgradation, but has it deferred until the benchmark is met, which in turn pushes back the later upgradations.

The benchmark is where most disputes about MACP actually arise, because it turns a scheme that looks automatic, three upgradations at 10, 20 and 30 years or 10 years in the same level, into one that depends on appraisal grades. This article explains what the benchmark is, what Very Good means, how the screening committee assesses the five years, the prospective application from the 2016-17 report, the treatment of older Good gradings, the deferral and its cascading effect, and the rules that the benchmark cannot be relaxed and an appraisal grading cannot be re-opened at the MACP stage.

The benchmark: Good raised to Very Good

When the MACP scheme was introduced by the Office Memorandum of 19 May 2009, the benchmark for a financial upgradation was Good. On the recommendation of the 7th CPC, the Department of Personnel and Training raised it to Very Good by Office Memorandum No. 35034/3/2015-Estt.(D) dated 28 September 2016. The change takes effect from 25 July 2016, the date of the Department of Expenditure resolution accepting the recommendation, and it applies to every case where a MACP upgradation falls due on or after that date.

The same reform raised the benchmark for promotion to Very Good as well, so the two moved together, but with one important difference discussed below: the MACP benchmark cannot be relaxed.

What Very Good means

Very Good is not a loose description; it is a defined band on the appraisal scale. It means an overall APAR score of 6.0 to below 8.0 on the ten-point scale, with 6.0 as the absolute minimum. The overall score itself is built up from three components:

40% for work output;
30% for personal attributes; and
30% for functional competency.

A score of 8.0 and above is Outstanding, and the band below Very Good is Good. So to clear the MACP bar an employee needs the reckoned appraisal reports to average into the Very Good band, at least 6.0.

How the screening committee assesses the five years

The benchmark is applied by a departmental screening committee, which follows the same procedure as a departmental promotion committee. When an employee completes the qualifying service of 10, 20 or 30 years, the committee meets and looks at the APAR gradings of the five preceding years available at the time of consideration. It then decides whether, taken together, they reach the Very Good benchmark.

There is no single arithmetic rule fixed in the scheme for combining the five years, and the committee works on the actual scores, but field guidance has commonly read the benchmark as requiring at least three of the last five reports to be Very Good and the other two not below Good. That is a useful rule of thumb rather than a rigid formula, and the committee’s assessment on the real gradings governs.

Prospective application and older Good gradings

The higher benchmark applies prospectively, and the older benchmark it replaced was never uniform across the levels. The Very Good benchmark is for the APAR of 2016-17 and later years. For 2015-16 and earlier, paragraph 17(ii) of Annexure-I to the consolidated guidelines in Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 35034/3/2015-Estt.(D) dated 22 October 2019 keeps the benchmark as it stood under the 2009 guidelines, and those set Good up to grade pay Rs. 6,600 in pay band 3 and Very Good for financial upgradation to grade pay Rs. 7,600 and above. The table in paragraph 17(ii) carries that split into the pay matrix:

Appraisal year	Benchmark, Level 11 and below	Benchmark, Level 12 and above
2013-14 and earlier	Good	Very Good
2014-15	Good	Very Good
2015-16	Good	Very Good
2016-17	Very Good	Very Good
2017-18 and later	Very Good	Very Good

The effect is that an employee at Level 11 or below whose reckoning period spans the change is not penalised for the years when only Good was required: for a MACP due in a later year with two pre-2016 Good reports and three post-2016 Very Good reports, the benchmark is met. An officer at Level 12 or above gets no such relief, because the Very Good bar already applied to those older years under the 2009 guidelines and applies to every year in the reckoning period.

Deferral and its cascading effect

If the benchmark is not met, the upgradation is deferred, not lost. Even a single Good grading in a post-2016 year can defer the upgradation. The employee is reconsidered once the required benchmark is earned in later appraisal reports, and the upgradation is then granted from the later date.

Because the scheme’s later upgradations run from the grant of the earlier one, a deferral has a cascading effect: a deferral at the 10-year stage pushes back the 20-year and 30-year upgradations too, and the clock effectively restarts from when the deferred upgradation is finally granted. A single below-benchmark year can therefore cost more than one delayed upgradation over a career, which is why the benchmark matters so much to the eventual pay and pension.

No relaxation, and no re-opening at the MACP stage

Two firm rules close off the usual escape routes. First, the Very Good benchmark for a MACP financial upgradation cannot be relaxed after 25 July 2016. This is a point of difference from certain promotion situations, where relaxations can apply. Second, there is no fresh opportunity to represent against an appraisal grading at the MACP stage. The gradings are disclosed to the employee under the APAR process itself, and an employee who disagrees must represent within the time allowed, usually 15 days of the report being communicated. An employee cannot wait until a MACP upgradation is being processed and then challenge an old grading; the window to contest a grade is at the time it is disclosed, not years later when it blocks an upgradation.

The consolidated guidelines

The benchmark rule, along with the rest of the MACP scheme, is drawn together in the consolidated MACP guidelines notified by the Department of Personnel and Training by Office Memorandum No. 35034/3/2015-Estt.(D) dated 22 October 2019. That consolidation restates the Very Good benchmark with the same 25 July 2016 cut-off and is the current master reference, read with the founding scheme of 19 May 2009 and the benchmark order of 28 September 2016. For how the benchmark sits within the wider difference between a financial upgradation and a real promotion, see MACP vs promotion.

In force today

The benchmark for a MACP financial upgradation is Very Good, raised from Good with effect from 25 July 2016 by DoPT OM No. 35034/3/2015-Estt.(D) dated 28 September 2016 and restated in the consolidated guidelines of 22 October 2019. Very Good means an overall APAR score of 6.0 to below 8.0 on the ten-point scale. A departmental screening committee assesses the five preceding years like a DPC. The benchmark applies to the APAR for 2016-17 and later; for 2015-16 and earlier the 2009 benchmark governs, which is Good for Level 11 and below and Very Good for Level 12 and above under the table in paragraph 17(ii) of the guidelines of 22 October 2019. If the benchmark is not met the upgradation is deferred, not lost, and granted when it is later met, with a cascading effect on the 20-year and 30-year upgradations. The benchmark cannot be relaxed, and an APAR grading cannot be re-opened at the MACP stage.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the benchmark for MACP?

The benchmark for a financial upgradation under the Modified Assured Career Progression scheme is Very Good, raised from the earlier Good with effect from 25 July 2016. Very Good means an overall APAR score of 6.0 to below 8.0 on the ten-point scale. A departmental screening committee looks at the annual performance appraisal reports of the five preceding years and grants the upgradation only if the benchmark is met, in the same way a departmental promotion committee assesses a promotion.

What APAR score is Very Good for MACP?

Very Good means an overall APAR score of 6.0 to below 8.0 on the ten-point scale, with 6.0 as the absolute minimum. The overall score is worked out as 40% for work output, 30% for personal attributes and 30% for functional competency. A score of 8.0 and above is Outstanding, and below 6.0 down to the next threshold is Good, so an employee needs at least 6.0 across the reckoned years to clear the MACP bar.

From when does the Very Good benchmark apply to MACP?

The Very Good benchmark applies where a MACP financial upgradation falls due on or after 25 July 2016, that being the date of the Department of Expenditure resolution accepting the 7th CPC recommendation. For the appraisal reports, the Very Good benchmark applies to the APAR for 2016-17 and later years; for 2015-16 and earlier the benchmark stays as it was under the 2009 MACP guidelines, and those were not uniform. The 2009 benchmark was Good up to grade pay Rs. 6,600 in pay band 3 and Very Good for financial upgradation to grade pay Rs. 7,600 and above, which the table in paragraph 17(ii) of the consolidated guidelines of 22 October 2019 renders as Good for Level 11 and below and Very Good for Level 12 and above. An officer at Level 12 or above therefore faces a Very Good bar in every reckoned year, including years before 2016.

What happens if the MACP benchmark is not met?

If the benchmark is not met the upgradation is deferred, not lost. Even a single Good grading in a post-2016 year can defer the upgradation. The employee is reconsidered once the required benchmark is earned in later appraisal reports, and the upgradation is then granted. Because the later upgradations run from the grant of the earlier one, a deferral at the 10-year stage pushes back the 20-year and 30-year upgradations too, so a single below-benchmark year can have a cascading effect over a career.

Can the MACP benchmark be relaxed?

No. Unlike some promotion situations, the Very Good benchmark for a MACP financial upgradation cannot be relaxed after 25 July 2016. There is also no fresh opportunity to represent against an APAR grading at the MACP stage, because the gradings are disclosed to the employee under the APAR process itself. An employee who disagrees with a grading must represent within the time allowed after the report is communicated, usually 15 days, and cannot re-open it later merely because a MACP upgradation is at stake.

How many Very Good gradings are needed for MACP?

The screening committee assesses the appraisal reports of the five preceding years available at the time of consideration. Field guidance has indicated that a common way to read the benchmark is that at least three of the last five reports should be Very Good and the other two not below Good, so that the overall assessment reaches Very Good. The precise reckoning is done by the screening committee on the actual scores, and for the years 2015-16 and earlier the benchmark to be applied is the 2009 one, which is Good for Level 11 and below and Very Good for Level 12 and above.

Who applies the MACP benchmark?

A departmental screening committee applies the benchmark, following the same procedure as a departmental promotion committee. It meets to consider the employees who have completed the qualifying service of 10, 20 or 30 years, looks at their appraisal reports for the five preceding years, and decides whether the Very Good benchmark is met. If it is, the financial upgradation is granted from the due date; if not, the case is deferred and reconsidered when the benchmark is later met.

External references

References

Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme, Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 35034/3/2008-Estt.(D) dated 19 May 2009, prescribing the original benchmark of Good for a financial upgradation.
Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 35034/3/2015-Estt.(D) dated 28 September 2016, enhancing the benchmark for financial upgradation under the MACP scheme from Good to Very Good with effect from 25 July 2016, the date of the Department of Expenditure resolution accepting the 7th CPC recommendation.
Meaning of Very Good as an overall APAR score of 6.0 to below 8.0 on the ten-point scale, the score computed as 40% work output, 30% personal attributes and 30% functional competency, applied to the appraisal reports of the five preceding years by the departmental screening committee.
Paragraph 17(ii) of Annexure-I to Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 35034/3/2015-Estt.(D) dated 22 October 2019, applying the Very Good benchmark to the APAR for 2016-17 and later years, keeping the 2009 benchmark for 2015-16 and earlier years, and tabulating that benchmark as Good for Level 11 and below and Very Good for Level 12 and above.
Consolidated guidelines of the MACP Scheme, Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. 35034/3/2015-Estt.(D) dated 22 October 2019, restating the Very Good benchmark, the deferral of an upgradation where the benchmark is not met and its effect on subsequent upgradations, and the disclosure of APAR gradings to the employee under the APAR process.