Budget gives salary hikes to President, VP, governors

The salaries of the President and the Vice President have been increased to Rs 5 lakh and Rs 4 lakh per month respectively, in a rectification of an anomaly.

Announcing the hike in their salaries in his Budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the emoluments of the President, the Vice President and the Governors were last revised with effect from January 1, 2006.

"These emoluments are proposed to be revised to Rs 5 lakh for the President, Rs 4 lakh for the Vice President and to Rs 3.5 lakh per month for the Governors," he said, amidst thumping of desk by the members in the Lok Sabha.

As of now, the President gets Rs 1.50 lakh per month, the Vice President Rs 1.25 lakh and a Governor of a state Rs 1.10 lakh.

Till now, the President, the Vice President and the Governors continued to get less salaries as compared to the top bureaucrats and service chiefs since the laws were not amended to rectify an anomaly with the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission's recommendations two years ago.

After the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission's awards on January 1, 2016, the Cabinet Secretary, who is the top-most bureaucrat in the country, gets Rs 2.5 lakh per month and a Secretary in the Union government draws Rs 2.25 lakh per month.

The President is also the supreme commander of all the three armed forces -- the Army, Air Force, and Navy.

However, the President's current salary was less than the chiefs of the three armed forces, who draw a salary equivalent to the cabinet secretary.