Staff Nurse salary

A Staff Nurse in the central government, now designated Nursing Officer, is a Group B post at Level 7 of the 7th Central Pay Commission pay matrix, with an entry basic pay of Rs. 44,900 a month and a flat Nursing Allowance of Rs. 9,000 that no non-nursing Level 7 post draws. At the dearness allowance of 60% in force from 1 January 2026, the entry in-hand is Rs. 94,426 a month in an X-class city, Rs. 87,056 in a Y-class city and Rs. 82,566 in a Z-class city.

The two nursing allowances are what separate a nurse’s pay slip from that of any other Level 7 employee. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Office Memorandum No. Z.28015/50/2017-N dated 31 August 2017 fixed the Nursing Allowance at Rs. 7,200 and the nurses’ Dress Allowance at Rs. 1,800 a month from 1 July 2017, and both rose by 25% to Rs. 9,000 and Rs. 2,250 when dearness allowance reached 50% on 1 January 2024. Together they add Rs. 11,250 a month, and they are why, at the Level 7 entry cell, a Nursing Officer in an X-class city takes home Rs. 11,250 more than an Income Tax Inspector on the same basic.

Most central nursing posts are filled through the Nursing Officer Recruitment Common Eligibility Test, NORCET, run by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi; the eleventh round is Notice No. 103/2026 dated 24 July 2026. The Railways recruit the same Level 7 nurse under the title Nursing Superintendent through the Railway Recruitment Boards. The sections below set out the in-hand by city and by cell, the point at which income tax starts, the allowances a nurse does and does not draw, recruitment, and the promotion ladder up to Chief Nursing Officer at Level 12.

Nursing Officer pay level and entry basic

The Nursing Officer is at Level 7 of the pay matrix in the Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016 (G.S.R. 721(E), 25 July 2016). Level 7 replaced the 6th CPC Pay Band-2 of Rs. 9,300 to Rs. 34,800 with grade pay of Rs. 4,600, which is how the NORCET-11 notice still describes the post: “Level 07 in the Pay Matrix pre-revised Pay Band-2 of Rs.9300-34800 with Grade Pay of Rs.4600/-, Group-B”. The 7th CPC gave nurses only the replacement level; paragraph 7.6.59 of its report notes that the 6th CPC had already placed them at grade pay Rs. 4,600 and recommends nothing more.

The increment falls on 1 January or 1 July, depending on whether the date of appointment lies between 2 January and 1 July or between 2 July and 1 January, under Rule 10 of the 2016 Rules; the annual increment article explains the window. A Nursing Officer joining in March therefore draws the first increment on the following 1 January, from Rs. 44,900 to Rs. 46,200.

In-hand salary of a Nursing Officer by city

At 60% dearness allowance (Department of Expenditure OM No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B) dated 22 April 2026), the monthly in-hand at the Level 7 entry cell is:

The table is a salary-calculator.in computation. House rent allowance is 30%, 20% or 10% of basic under Department of Expenditure OM No. 2/5/2017-E.II(B) dated 7 July 2017, at the rates in force since dearness allowance reached 50% on 1 January 2024. Transport allowance for Levels 3 to 8 is Rs. 3,600 plus dearness allowance in the 19 cities named in the annexure to OM No. 21/5/2017-E.II(B) dated 7 July 2017, and Rs. 1,800 plus dearness allowance elsewhere; the X column assumes an annexure city and the Y and Z columns a station outside it. A Y-class annexure city such as Lucknow, Jaipur or Patna adds Rs. 2,880, taking the Y in-hand to Rs. 89,936.

The deductions are the employee’s 10% contribution to the National Pension System or the Unified Pension Scheme, the CGHS contribution of Rs. 650 for Levels 7 to 11, and the Rs. 60 Group B subscription to the Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme.

The salary by pay level calculator computes the Level 7 figure without the nursing allowances: at the entry cell in an X-class city that is a gross of Rs. 91,070 and an in-hand of Rs. 83,176. Adding the Rs. 11,250 of Nursing and Dress Allowance gives the Rs. 94,426 above, and no other line of the pay slip differs.

Income tax and the in-hand by Level 7 cell

A Nursing Officer pays no income tax at the first two Level 7 cells in any city class, and in an X-class city tax starts at the third cell. Under the default regime in Section 202 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, the Rs. 75,000 standard deduction in Section 19(1) Table serial 2 and the Section 156 rebate of up to Rs. 60,000 make tax nil on taxable income up to Rs. 12,00,000. Both nursing allowances are taxable under this regime, so they bring a nurse into tax four increments earlier than a plain Level 7 employee, who first pays tax at cell 7, Rs. 53,600, in an X-class city.

Each row assumes a full year at that cell, 60% dearness allowance and no other income; the Y and Z columns assume a station outside the transport allowance annexure. Tax starts at cell 6 in a Y-class city (Rs. 18,470 a year) and at cell 8, Rs. 55,200, in a Z-class city (Rs. 21,466 a year). The employer’s 14% NPS contribution enters salary income and leaves it again through the deduction in Section 124(1)(a), so it does not move these figures.

The in-hand falls by Rs. 330 a month between cells 3 and 4 in an X-class city. At cell 3 the taxable income is Rs. 12,14,400, and the marginal relief in Section 156(2)(b) caps the tax at the Rs. 14,400 by which it exceeds Rs. 12 lakh. At cell 4 the taxable income is Rs. 12,46,320: the slab tax of Rs. 66,948 exceeds the Rs. 46,320 margin, so marginal relief still applies, and the tax is the whole Rs. 46,320 plus 4% health and education cess under Section 3(15) of the Finance Act, 2026, Rs. 48,173 in all. Gross pay rose by Rs. 31,920 a year and tax by Rs. 33,197, so the increment costs the nurse money until cell 5.

An employee can opt out of the default regime into the old one. The old regime exempts the Dress Allowance under rule 280(1)(g) of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 and allows the Chapter VIII deductions, but its rebate stops at Rs. 5,00,000 of taxable income, so at Level 7 it pays only where those deductions are large.

Nursing Allowance and Dress Allowance

The Nursing Allowance is Rs. 9,000 a month, flat, for nursing personnel of all categories at all levels in central government and Union Territory hospitals and in centrally funded autonomous bodies such as AIIMS, PGIMER Chandigarh and JIPMER Puducherry. Its history runs through three documents. Paragraph 8.17.85 of the 7th CPC report recommended no increase from the then Rs. 4,800. Paragraph 5.5.7 of the Report of the Committee on Allowances of 27 April 2017 recommended multiplying it by 1.5, to Rs. 7,200, and the Cabinet accepted that on 28 June 2017. The Health Ministry’s OM of 31 August 2017 then implemented it from 1 July 2017, with the rule in its paragraph 2 that the rate rises by 25% each time dearness allowance goes up by 50%.

Dearness allowance reached 50% on 1 January 2024 under Department of Expenditure OM No. 1/1/2024-E-II(B) dated 12 March 2024, which lifted the allowance to Rs. 9,000. The Ministry authorised it by an order on the same file dated 17 September 2024. The next 25% step falls when dearness allowance reaches 100%, 40 points above the 60% in force from 1 January 2026.

The allowance is the same for every grade. At entry it is about 20% of the Rs. 44,900 basic; for a Chief Nursing Officer at Level 12, whose entry basic is Rs. 78,800, it is about 11%. It is not pay: condition (a) of the 2017 OM keeps it outside pay, so it is not counted for pension, gratuity or the NPS contribution.

The nurses’ Dress Allowance is Rs. 2,250 a month, or Rs. 27,000 a year. The base of Rs. 1,800 a month comes from the same OM of 31 August 2017 and carries the same escalator. Every other Dress Allowance category is an annual figure credited in July; nurses are paid monthly because recommendation (ii) of the Committee on Allowances directed it “in view of high maintenance and hygiene requirements”, and the Government adopted that in its decisions published in the Gazette on 6 July 2017. Condition (ii) of the Health Ministry’s implementing OM reproduces the generic once-a-year July credit, which conflicts with the Cabinet decision it implements; the Nursing Allowance article sets out the conflict. The allowance replaced the old uniform allowance of Rs. 750 a month and washing allowance of Rs. 450 a month, which paragraph 8.17.86 of the 7th CPC report folded into it.

Operation Theatre Allowance, patient care and night duty

A Nursing Officer posted to an operation theatre or intensive care unit draws an Operation Theatre Allowance of Rs. 540 a month. Paragraph 8.10.35 of the 7th CPC report records that it was paid to 35% of staff nurses in central government hospitals and recommended abolishing it. The Government kept it and raised it from Rs. 360 to Rs. 540 a month in the decisions published on 6 July 2017. It is tied to the posting and stops on a move to a general ward.

A Nursing Officer does not draw the Hospital Patient Care Allowance. Paragraph 8.10.29 of the 7th CPC report confines both patient care allowances to non-ministerial employees “excluding nursing personnel”. The Health Ministry asked the Committee on Allowances to place nurses in cell R1H3 of the Risk and Hardship Allowance matrix, and paragraph 5.5.4 of its report of 27 April 2017 refused because nurses already draw the Nursing Allowance. Doctors are excluded on the same reasoning, because they draw the non-practising allowance.

A Nursing Officer does not draw Night Duty Allowance either, although nursing runs on night shifts. DoPT OM No. A-27016/02/2017-Estt.(AL) dated 13 July 2020 fixes the allowance at an hourly rate of basic pay plus dearness allowance divided by 200, with a weightage of 10 minutes for each hour of night duty, and sets Rs. 43,600 as the ceiling of basic pay for entitlement. The lowest Level 7 cell is Rs. 44,900, so no Nursing Officer passes the ceiling.

The exclusion is older than the ceiling. Paragraph 2(vi) of DoPT OM No. 12012/4/86-Estt.(Allowances) dated 4 October 1989 provided that where “the night duty factor has already been taken into account for grant of any allowance such as Nursing Allowance, in the case of Nurses, no further compensation may be allowed for night duty.” In 2017 the Health Ministry asked the Committee on Allowances to give Night Duty Allowance “to nursing cadre at par with other Central Government employees”. Paragraph 5.4.17 of the Committee’s report replied that adding categories “is not within the remit of this Committee” and recommended accepting the 7th CPC’s night duty provisions without change. At AIIMS New Delhi the night shift in the ward block runs from 8.00 pm to 8.00 am under the Nursing Services Manual, and a ward nurse who works it is paid the same as one on the morning shift.

Staff Nurse and Nursing Officer: the change of title

“Staff Nurse” is the old title of the post now called Nursing Officer, and Nursing Sister is the old title of the Senior Nursing Officer. The pay did not change with the title: grade pay Rs. 4,600, Level 7, for the Nursing Officer and Rs. 4,800, Level 8, for the Senior Nursing Officer. The new titles are the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s, not the 7th CPC’s. Its nursing paragraphs, 7.6.55 to 7.6.61, use Staff Nurse, Nursing Sister and Assistant Nursing Superintendent throughout and recommend only replacement pay levels; the report uses “Nursing Officer” only for the Military Nursing Service.

The Ministry’s letter F. No. Z-28016/164/2015-SSH dated 9 August 2017, issued by PMSSY Division-IV to the six AIIMS at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Jodhpur, Raipur and Rishikesh, carried both titles side by side: “Staff Nurse Grade II/Nursing Officer” at grade pay Rs. 4,600 and “Staff Nurse Grade I/Senior Nursing Officer” at grade pay Rs. 4,800. The Railways did not adopt the change. A railway nurse at Level 7 is still recruited as Nursing Superintendent, which in the civil hospitals is a Level 11 grade.

Recruitment through NORCET

NORCET is a common computer-based test run by AIIMS New Delhi for Nursing Officer posts in the AIIMS and in other central institutions that join each round. NORCET-11, Notice No. 103/2026 dated 24 July 2026, carried annexures for JIPMER Puducherry, the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, the Central Institute of Psychiatry at Ranchi, the National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, and the central government hospitals in Delhi: Safdarjung Hospital with VMMC, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital with ABVIMS, and RHTC Najafgarh. The notice states that NORCET is planned to be held twice a year, and in general allocates seats in one round without a waiting list.

Eligibility and age

The NORCET-11 notice accepts either of two qualifications, each with registration as a Nurse and Midwife with a State Nursing Council or the Indian Nursing Council:

• a B.Sc. (Hons.) Nursing, B.Sc. Nursing, or B.Sc. (Post-Certificate) or Post-Basic B.Sc. Nursing from an institution recognised by the Indian Nursing Council or a State Nursing Council; or
• a diploma in General Nursing Midwifery (GNM) from such an institution, with experience after qualifying in a hospital of at least 50 beds.

The experience a GNM holder needs and the age limit depend on the employer, and each annexure overrides the AIIMS-wide terms for its own posts:

Age is reckoned on the closing date, 13 August 2026. Under the age relaxation table of the notice, the upper limit is relaxed by five years for SC and ST candidates, three years for OBC, 10, 13 or 15 years for persons with benchmark disabilities up to a maximum of 56, and the length of military service plus three years for ex-servicemen. Central government civilian employees with three years’ regular service get five, eight or 10 years by category. The fee is Rs. 3,000 for General and OBC candidates and Rs. 2,400 for SC, ST and EWS candidates, with persons with benchmark disabilities exempt.

The two stages

The notice is explicit that “The NORCET Preliminary stage is a qualifying examination” and is not used for rank. The Stage I cut-off is the 50th percentile for unreserved and EWS candidates, 45th for OBC and 40th for SC and ST, and Stage II needs 50%, 45% and 40% marks in the same order. NORCET-11 held Stage I on 12 September 2026 and Stage II on 30 September 2026.

Railways and other employers

The Railways recruit their Level 7 nurse as Nursing Superintendent through the Paramedical Categories notice of the Railway Recruitment Boards. RRB Centralised Employment Notice No. 03/2025, indicative notice published 26 July 2025, listed 272 Nursing Superintendent vacancies at Level 7 with initial pay of Rs. 44,900, medical standard C1 and an age band of 20 to 40 years on 1 January 2026. The qualification was registration as a nurse and midwife after the three-year GNM course, or a B.Sc. Nursing. The basic pay is the same Level 7 as a civil Nursing Officer’s. The railway employees article covers the railway service conditions.

ESIC Nursing Officers come through NORCET at Level 7, Group B, and are posted to ESIC hospitals under the Employees’ State Insurance scheme.

Promotion ladder and pay level of each grade

The nursing cadre runs from Nursing Officer at Level 7 to Chief Nursing Officer at Level 12. The levels below follow from the grade pays in the 6th CPC structure, which the CCS (RP) Rules, 2016 map one to one onto the matrix.

Above the Chief Nursing Officer, the structure at paragraph 7.6.57 of the 7th CPC report places a Nursing Advisor at grade pay Rs. 8,700, which is Level 13.

The Assistant Nursing Superintendent is at Level 10 under the AIIMS regulations, and the 7th CPC recommended Level 9 for future promotions in the central government hospitals. Paragraph 7.6.60 of the 7th CPC report noted that the Assistant and Deputy Nursing Superintendents were both at grade pay Rs. 5,400 in PB-3, and recommended that future promotions from Nursing Sister to Assistant Nursing Superintendent be at grade pay Rs. 5,400 in PB-2, which is Level 9, with existing holders keeping PB-3 as personal pay. The AIIMS regulations of 9 August 2017 kept the post at grade pay Rs. 5,400 in PB-3, Level 10, so the level depends on the employer’s recruitment rules.

The scale of the cadre explains the pace of promotion. Paragraph 7.6.57 of the 7th CPC report counted 2,580 sanctioned Staff Nurse posts and 1,084 Nursing Sister posts in Safdarjung, Dr. RML, Lady Hardinge and Kalawati hospitals in Delhi, against four Nursing Superintendent and four Chief Nursing Officer posts.

Pay on promotion to Senior Nursing Officer

Promotion from Level 7 to Level 8 is fixed under clause (I)(a)(1) of Fundamental Rule 22: one notional increment in Level 7, then the cell in Level 8 equal to or next above it. A Nursing Officer promoted from cell 4, Rs. 49,000, after three years’ service takes the notional increment to Rs. 50,500 and lands in Level 8 at Rs. 50,500, its cell 3. The pay fixation on promotion article covers the option to fix pay from the date of the next increment. In an X-class city the in-hand at Rs. 50,500 is Rs. 97,923, Rs. 377 more than at Level 7 cell 4, because most of the gain goes to tax in the marginal relief band.

MACP where promotion stalls

Where no promotion comes, the Modified Assured Career Progression scheme (DoPT OM No. 35034/3/2015-Estt.(D) dated 22 October 2019, in force from 1 September 2008) gives a financial upgradation to the next level of the pay matrix after 10, 20 and 30 years of continuous service. A Nursing Officer with no promotion moves to Level 8 at 10 years, Level 9 at 20 and Level 10 at 30. The upgradation follows the matrix, not the cadre: it can give Level 9, which no AIIMS nursing grade occupies.

Pension and retirement benefits

A Nursing Officer appointed on or after 1 January 2004 is on the National Pension System, contributing 10% of basic plus dearness allowance with a government contribution of 14%, or on the Unified Pension Scheme for those who opted under it from 1 April 2025. Under Department of Financial Services notification F. No. FX-1/3/2024-PR dated 24 January 2025, the UPS pays an assured 50% of the average basic pay of the last 12 months after 25 years of qualifying service. The Old Pension Scheme is closed to post-2003 entrants, except those appointed against posts advertised or notified on or before 22 December 2003 who took the one-time option under DoPPW OM No. 57/05/2021-P&PW(B) dated 3 March 2023 by 31 August 2023.

The Nursing Allowance and the Dress Allowance count for none of this. Condition (a) of the OM of 31 August 2017 keeps the Nursing Allowance outside pay, as already decided by MoHFW Order No. Z.28015/86/97-N dated 28 July 1998, and both pension contributions and the UPS payout run on basic pay plus dearness allowance. A nurse’s retirement income is therefore set by the level reached, and the Rs. 11,250 of nursing allowances drawn every month in service does not carry into it.

Staff Nurse salary and the 8th Pay Commission

The 8th Central Pay Commission is to recommend a revised pay structure and review allowances under its terms of reference in Resolution F. No. 01-01/2025-E.III(A) dated 3 November 2025, as the 7th CPC and the Committee on Allowances did for the Nursing Allowance in 2015 and 2017. No 8th CPC report exists, so no figure for a Nursing Officer’s revised pay can be stated. Until a new matrix is notified, a nurse’s pay moves by dearness allowance every six months and by the 25% allowance step when dearness allowance reaches 100%.

Related Articles

• Nursing Allowance
• Dress Allowance
• Washing Allowance
• Night Duty Allowance
• Hospital Patient Care Allowance
• Risk and Hardship Allowance
• Non-practising allowance
• Military Nursing Service
• NORCET
• All India Institute of Medical Sciences
• Railway Recruitment Board
• Railway employees
• Employees’ State Insurance
• Central government jobs
• Income Tax Inspector salary
• SSC CGL salary
• Loco Pilot salary
• Salary by pay level
• Salary by pay level calculator
• 7th CPC salary calculator
• Take-home salary of central government employees
• Pay matrix
• 7th Central Pay Commission
• 8th Central Pay Commission
• Dearness allowance
• House rent allowance
• City classification for HRA
• Transport allowance
• CGHS contribution and ward entitlement
• Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme
• Annual increment
• Fundamental Rule 22
• Pay fixation on promotion
• Pay fixation on promotion calculator
• Modified Assured Career Progression
• Probation in central government
• National Pension System
• Unified Pension Scheme
• Old Pension Scheme
• Section 87A rebate
• Standard deduction
• New tax regime
• Income tax for government employees
• Central government employees in India

External references

• All India Institute of Medical Sciences, examinations portal (NORCET notices)
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
• Indian Nursing Council
• Employees’ State Insurance Corporation
• Railway Recruitment Boards, online application portal
• Department of Expenditure
• Department of Personnel and Training

References

1. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Office Memorandum No. Z.28015/50/2017-N dated 31 August 2017 (Nursing Allowance and Dress Allowance), and the order of the same number dated 17 September 2024 (25% increase from 1 January 2024).
2. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, PMSSY Division-IV, letter F. No. Z-28016/164/2015-SSH dated 9 August 2017 (recruitment regulations for nursing staff in six new AIIMS).
3. Report of the 7th Central Pay Commission, 19 November 2015, paragraphs 7.6.55 to 7.6.61, 8.10.29, 8.10.35, 8.17.71 to 8.17.77, 8.17.85 and 8.17.86.
4. Report of the Committee on Allowances, 27 April 2017, paragraphs 5.4.17, 5.5.4 and 5.5.7.
5. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. A-27016/02/2017-Estt.(AL) dated 13 July 2020 (night duty allowance), and Office Memorandum No. 12012/4/86-Estt.(Allowances) dated 4 October 1989.
6. All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, Notice No. 103/2026 dated 24 July 2026 (NORCET-11), with annexures.
7. Railway Recruitment Boards, Centralised Employment Notice No. 03/2025 (Paramedical Categories).
8. Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016, G.S.R. 721(E) dated 25 July 2016; Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B) dated 22 April 2026.
9. Income-tax Act, 2025, Sections 19(1), 124(1)(a), 156 and 202; Finance Act, 2026, Section 3(15); Income-tax Rules, 2026, rule 280(1)(g).