India's players are still on a high after winning in Pakistan

The exact number to be awarded has not yet been revealed, but the new system will see senior players earn more than less experienced teammates.

"The players have agreed to graded payment contracts and all details have been worked out," said BCCI secretary Karunakaran Nair.

The contracts are expected to be in place before the Asia Cup in July.

India's international players have until now been paid on a match by match basis with fees taken from money paid by team and match sponsors.

This is a very good move by the BCCI, if only Pakistan could try and do the same thing From Lewis Duckworth Have your say on TMS

It meant that stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and skipper Sourav Ganguly received the same as Sanjay Bangar, Ajit Agarkar and Parthiv Patel for last year's World Cup in South Africa, even though the the latter three did not play a single game in the tournament.

The central contracts will have four separate grades, with the amounts paid dependent on the number of Tests and one-day internationals an individual player has appeared in.

The new system will see India fall into line with Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and England.

Pakistan reject contracts plea

The Pakistan Cricket Board, however, recently announced it could not afford to introduce central contracts for its players.

Even though the PCB made �11.5m from the recent home series against India, chief executive Rameez Raja said the money had to be spent on developing the "first-class and junior structure, academy programmes and on other development projects".