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The Union Cabinet has approved the Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) equivalent to 78 days’ wages for eligible Indian Railways employees. This annual festive bonus serves as a token of appreciation ahead of the Durga Puja, Dussehra, and Diwali holidays.
Total Outlay: The government has cleared a massive payout of ₹2,009.61 crore.
Maximum Payout: The upper limit payable per eligible employee is fixed at ₹17,951 for the 78-day period.
This decision directly benefits 11,40,770 non-gazetted railway employees. It covers Group C staff across multiple essential categories including Loco Pilots and Train Managers (Guards), Track Maintainers, Pointsmen, and Technicians, Station Masters and Supervisors, Ministerial and helper staff.
The bonus rewards the staff for a stellar performance during the 2025–26 financial year, during which the national transporter loaded a record 1,670 Million Tonnes of cargo and carried nearly 7.41 Billion passengers.
While over 11.4 lakh Group C staff members are covered, the PLB explicitly excludes Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF) personnel. RPF/RPSF personnel are instead governed by separate central government ad-hoc bonus rules.
Employees want more Bonus
There has been growing friction between railway employee unions and the current formula. Organizations like the Indian Railways Technical Supervisors’ Association (IRTSA) have formally urged the Ministry of Railways to update the decades-old ceiling. They argue that with a real minimum wage of ₹21,000 for unskilled workers, the calculation cap should be raised to at least ₹18,000 plus Dearness Allowance (DA), which would lift the annual festive bonus closer to ₹46,184.
How bonus is calculated?
The maximum payout is capped at ₹17,951 due to an active legal calculation cap. The calculation uses a predefined monthly wage cap of ₹7,000, which has remained unchanged since the 2014–15 financial year.
Even if an employee’s actual monthly salary is much higher, the bonus is mathematically calculated as: (₹7,000 ÷ 30.4) × 78 ≈ ₹17,951.
Any eligible employee whose monthly salary is below ₹7,000 will have their bonus calculated using their actual lower monthly pay.
