Creamy layer income cap for OBCs raised to ₹8 lakh per annum

New Delhi: The 'creamy layer' ceiling for OBC reservation has been raised to Rs 8 lakh from the existing Rs 6 lakh per year, according to an official order issued Wednesday.

This means that children of persons having a gross annual income of Rs 8 lakh or above for a period of three consecutive years would fall under the creamy layer category and would not be entitled to the benefit of reservation available to Other Backward Classes.

"It has now been decided to raise the income limit from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh per annum for determining the creamy layer among the Other Backward Classes," the order issued by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said.

In 1993, the limit was kept at Rs 1 lakh. It was raised thrice - to Rs 2.5 lakh in 2004, Rs 4.5 lakh in 2008 and Rs 6 lakh in 2013.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had on August 23 announced that the Union Cabinet had been formally apprised of the decision to increase the limit for central government jobs.

He had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hinted in Assam that the bar defining creamy layer would be raised.

The Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry had proposed that OBC families which earn more than Rs 8 lakh per year should be under the creamy layer

category.