TN Police Salary: Constable and SI Pay Scale, In-hand and Promotion

TNUSRB fills three posts through one common recruitment: Grade II Police Constable, Grade II Jail Warder and Fireman. The 2025 notification prints one pay scale for all three: ₹18,200–67,100 (notification PDF, in Tamil; Samayam Tamil's report). The 2023 notification printed the same scale, so the entry pay has not changed between the last two recruitments.

You join at ₹18,200 basic. Annual increments move you up the scale, and promotions to Grade I constable and Head Constable move you further.

Tamil Nadu has its own pay matrix, revised in 2017 after the 7th Pay Commission, so state police pay doesn't line up with central police pay. The Fifth Tamil Nadu Police Commission recommended raising constables' pay scale to ₹21,700–69,100, on a par with the Union government, The Hindu reported in February 2025. That is a recommendation only: the 2025 notification, issued months later, still printed ₹18,200–67,100, and we found no order raising it as of 11 October 2026.

The 2025 notification for Sub-Inspectors of Police (Taluk and Armed Reserve) gives the scale of pay as ₹36,900–1,16,600 (TNUSRB SI notification 2025, PDF). The same scale applies to Taluk and Armed Reserve SIs, and to SIs selected through the open and departmental quotas.

So the SI salary per month starts at ₹36,900 basic, or ₹59,040 with DA, before HRA and allowances. That is roughly double a new constable's basic, which is why many graduates write the SI exam instead of the constable exam, or write both.

Allowance amounts are the latest we could confirm from news reports of the government's announcements. They are revised by government order, so the figures on your first payslip are the ones that count.

In-hand pay is what reaches your bank account. The usual deductions for a Tamil Nadu government employee are:

• Your pension contribution, under the scheme that applies to new recruits when you join.

• Health insurance and group insurance subscriptions.

• Professional tax.

• Income tax, if your taxable income is high enough.

• Recoveries such as the licence fee for police quarters, loans or advances.

Coaching sites publish in-hand estimates, but each uses its own HRA and allowance assumptions and they often disagree. Treat them as rough. TNUSRB does not publish an in-hand figure.

Constables rise largely by years of service. Under the scheme the Chief Minister announced in the Assembly on 29 April 2025, with a government order issued in June 2025 (Hindu Tamil Thisai):

There is a faster route to SI. 20% of SI vacancies are reserved for serving police personnel. In the 2025 SI notification, Grade II and Grade I constables and Head Constables with 5 years of service and a clean record could apply under this departmental quota. They write a separate 85-mark paper that includes the new criminal laws (BNS, BNSS, BSA) and police administration, and are exempt from the physical efficiency test. A constable who holds a degree and is within the age limit can also write the open quota.

From SI, promotion to Inspector is by departmental promotion lists, based on seniority and service record. How long it takes depends on vacancies.

Both posts have the same height and chest standards and the same endurance run. Our TNUSRB physical test guide has the events and star marks for each. For the full pattern, age relaxations and syllabus, see the TN Police Constable exam guide and the TN Police SI exam guide.

TNUSRB's Annual Planner 2026–27, updated on 2 September 2026, lists these notifications:

These dates are tentative. For other state and central exams coming up, see upcoming government exams in Tamil Nadu.

In both exams the main written paper carries 70 of the 100 merit marks, so it decides most of your rank. Thervu's TN Police mock tests are timed, set in Tamil and English, marked the moment you submit, and bring your wrong answers back for revision. Pro adds subject and topic tests, so you can drill one section such as Psychology.