MTS salary

Multi-Tasking Staff (MTS) is the entry-level central government post, placed at Level 1 of the 7th CPC pay matrix with a basic pay of Rs. 18,000, the minimum pay of a central government employee. With dearness allowance, house rent allowance and transport allowance added, an MTS in a large city draws a gross of about Rs. 36,000 a month and takes home about Rs. 33,000. It is the most widely spread of all central posts, found in almost every ministry and office, and it is recruited through the Staff Selection Commission on the qualification of a Class 10 pass.

This article sets out what MTS is, the Level 1 pay and how it grows, the full salary breakdown with a worked in-hand figure for a large city and a small town, the allowances and benefits, the career progression, and the recruitment through the SSC examination. Every figure is for the current position, with dearness allowance at its present rate.

What Multi-Tasking Staff is

MTS is a General Central Service post, Group C, non-gazetted and non-ministerial, at Level 1 of the pay matrix. It is recruited through the SSC Multi-Tasking (Non-Technical) Staff and Havaldar (CBIC and CBN) Examination, which also fills Havaldar posts, at the same Level 1, in the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs and the Central Bureau of Narcotics.

The duties are the general support work of a government office: cleanliness and upkeep of the section, carrying files and papers within the building, photocopying, delivery of dak, watch and ward, opening and closing of rooms, routine diary and dispatch work, basic computer assistance, and the upkeep of parks and lawns, with driving where the holder has a licence. MTS is the unified post that replaced the older Group D designations of peon, daftary, jamadar, chowkidar, safaiwala and mali. It is employed across nearly every central ministry and its subordinate offices, in the income-tax and audit departments, and, as Havaldar, in the customs and narcotics services.

The pay: Level 1 of the pay matrix

MTS sits at Level 1, the lowest level of the pay matrix, with an entry basic pay of Rs. 18,000 a month. A common error, still repeated by job aggregators, is to quote the MTS pay as the pre-revised 6th CPC band of Rs. 5,200 to 20,200 with a grade pay of Rs. 1,800. That band was abolished on 1 January 2016 by the CCS (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016 ; under the 7th CPC the post is simply Level 1, entry basic Rs. 18,000.

The basic pay grows by a 3 per cent annual increment each year, one cell up the level. The cells of Level 1 run Rs. 18,000, then Rs. 18,500, Rs. 19,100, Rs. 19,700, Rs. 20,300, Rs. 20,900 and so on, each the previous figure raised by 3 per cent and rounded to the next hundred, up to the top of Level 1 at Rs. 56,900. So an MTS who spends a full career at Level 1, without promotion, still sees the basic pay rise more than threefold over the years through increments alone, before any dearness allowance.

The full salary breakdown

The salary is the basic pay plus dearness allowance, house rent allowance and transport allowance, less the pension contribution and a small health deduction. Dearness allowance is currently 60 per cent of basic pay with effect from 1 January 2026, so on the Rs. 18,000 basic it is Rs. 10,800.

For an MTS posted in an X-class city, drawing house rent allowance at 30 per cent and transport allowance at the higher-city rate, the monthly salary works out as follows.

For an MTS in a Z-class city, outside the higher transport-allowance cities, the house rent allowance falls to 10 per cent and the transport allowance to the lower rate, so the figures are:

Three of the components are worth a note. The house rent allowance is 30, 20 or 10 per cent of basic pay by city class, which on Rs. 18,000 is Rs. 5,400, Rs. 3,600 or Rs. 1,800; at Level 1 the 30 per cent figure coincides with the floor the rules set, and it is worked out by city classification . Unlike transport allowance, house rent allowance carries no dearness allowance on top. The transport allowance for Levels 1 and 2 is Rs. 1,350 a month in the nineteen higher-transport cities and Rs. 900 elsewhere, and unlike house rent allowance it does attract dearness allowance, so at 60 per cent those become Rs. 2,160 and Rs. 1,440. The pension contribution is 10 per cent of basic pay plus dearness allowance, which on Rs. 28,800 is Rs. 2,880, against which the government adds 14 per cent, or Rs. 4,032, over and above the take-home. Income tax is nil at this income under either regime, well below the rebate limit. To run a particular city and stage, use the 7th CPC salary calculator .

Allowances and benefits

Beyond the monthly salary, an MTS has the standard benefits of central service. Leave under the CCS (Leave) Rules, earned leave, half-pay leave and casual leave, with leave encashment of up to 300 days of earned leave on retirement. Leave Travel Concession for travel to the home town and across India in the block years. Medical cover through the Central Government Health Scheme where the office is in a covered city, or the medical attendance rules elsewhere; an MTS in a health-scheme city pays the small monthly contribution, which is the health deduction in the tables above.

On pension, an MTS is necessarily a post-2004 recruit and so is on the National Pension System , or the Unified Pension Scheme if that option was exercised from 1 April 2025, under which an assured payout of 50 per cent of the average of the last twelve months’ basic pay is available after 25 years of qualifying service. The Old Pension Scheme is closed to anyone who joined after 1 January 2004, so it is not open to a new MTS.

Career progression

MTS is an entry post, but it is not a dead end. An MTS is promoted to Lower Division Clerk at Level 2, then to Upper Division Clerk at Level 4, and on to the assistant and section-officer grades, through departmental promotion and the clerical quota; the SSC CHSL salary article covers the Lower Division Clerk rung. In the customs and narcotics services the Havaldar stream moves up to the sepoy and tax-assistant grades.

Where regular promotion is slow, as it often is for Level 1 staff, the Modified Assured Career Progression scheme provides a safety net: a financial upgradation to the next pay level after 10, 20 and 30 years of service. So a long-serving MTS who is not promoted still moves up in pay, from Level 1 to Level 2 and then Level 4 on successive upgradations, which lifts the basic pay and every allowance built on it.

Recruitment

MTS is recruited by the Staff Selection Commission through the annual Multi-Tasking Staff and Havaldar examination. The essential qualification is a pass in Class 10, Matriculation, from a recognised board; no graduation is required, which is what makes MTS the most accessible central government post. The age band is 18 to 25 years for most MTS posts and 18 to 27 years for Havaldar and some MTS posts, with the usual relaxations of three years for other backward classes and five years for scheduled castes and tribes, and further relaxations for ex-servicemen and persons with benchmark disabilities. The age band is set afresh in each year’s notification, so it should be checked against the current one.

Selection for MTS is in two stages, a computer-based test and a document verification. The Havaldar posts add a physical efficiency test and a physical standards test after the written test. The computer-based test is offered in fifteen regional languages besides English. The 2025 cycle was notified on 26 June 2025.

See also

• Stenographer salary
• Pay matrix
• Minimum pay
• Dearness allowance
• House-rent allowance
• City classification for HRA
• Transport allowance
• Annual increment
• Take-home salary for central government employees
• National Pension System
• Unified Pension Scheme
• Old Pension Scheme
• Leave encashment
• Leave Travel Concession
• Modified Assured Career Progression
• CCS (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016
• SSC CHSL salary
• CAPF Constable salary
• Railway Group D salary
• Staff Selection Commission
• 7th Central Pay Commission
• Central government jobs
• Central government employees in India
• 7th CPC salary calculator
• Salary by pay level

External references

• Staff Selection Commission
• Department of Expenditure
• Department of Personnel and Training

References

1. Staff Selection Commission, Multi-Tasking (Non-Technical) Staff and Havaldar (CBIC and CBN) Examination, 2025 notification dated 26 June 2025 (posts, pay level, eligibility and selection scheme).
2. Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016 (G.S.R. 721(E), dated 25 July 2016), 7th CPC pay matrix, Level 1 entry basic pay Rs. 18,000.
3. Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum on dearness allowance (60 per cent with effect from 1 January 2026).
4. Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum No. 2/5/2017-E.II(B), dated 7 July 2017, on house rent allowance rates and the classification of cities.
5. Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum No. 21/5/2017-E.II(B), dated 7 July 2017, on transport allowance, with the Office Memorandum dated 2 August 2017 on the pay threshold for Levels 1 and 2.
6. Department of Personnel and Training, Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme, Office Memorandum No. 35034/3/2008-Estt.(D), dated 19 May 2009.