India Approves 2,009 Crore Bonus for Railway Employees

The Union Cabinet of India, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved a productivity-linked bonus (PLB) totaling ₹2,009.61 crore for 1,140,770 non-gazetted railway employees on October 14, 2026. The bonus is equivalent to 78 days of wages, with a maximum payout of ₹17,951 per employee for Group C staff, including loco pilots, station masters, and technicians.

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated the payment recognizes strong performance during the 2025-26 financial year, noting that the railways carried nearly 7.41 billion passengers and loaded a record 1,670 million tonnes of cargo. The payout is scheduled ahead of the Durga Puja and Dussehra holidays.

The approved amount maintains a wage ceiling of ₹7,000, which has remained unchanged since 2014-15. This decision rejects demands from the Indian Railways Technical Supervisors' Association, which had urged the government to raise the ceiling to ₹18,000 plus dearness allowance to increase the maximum payout to at least ₹46,184.

Concurrent with the approval, the Railway Board issued a warning to staff regarding a forged letter circulating on social media. The fake document falsely claimed that a higher bonus of ₹41,149 had already been approved for the 2025-26 period.