New Delhi, Nov. 20: Central public sector employees are eligible to performance-related variable pay under a new package announced by the government today.

The variable pay will range between 40 per cent and 200 per cent of the basic pay. The gratuity for executives has been increased to Rs 10 lakh from Rs 3.5 lakh.

“The pay scale of employees will depend on the profitability and paying capacity of the organisation. Allowances should not be more than 50 per cent of the basic pay,” said R. Bandyopadhyay, secretary, public enterprises department. A “high-performer” in a Navratna PSU can get a hike of 200 per cent, he added.

PSU staff will get allowances in the form of risk pay (10 to 20 per cent of basic), difficult area allowance (15 per cent), Northeast allowance (12.5 per cent), underground mines allowance (10 per cent) and a 25 per cent non-practice allowance for doctors.

The new scale offers the benefit of one additional increment for every two increments to mitigate the problem of junior and senior executives getting the same pay. It allows a uniform annual increment as well as stagnation increment of 3 per cent of basic pay.

The package sets a uniform fitment — the level at which pay is fixed within the minimum and maximum amounts in a particular scale — of 30 per cent of basic pay plus dearness allowance for profit-making PSUs. For non-profitable PSUs, the fitment will depend on affordability and range between 10 and 20 per cent.