DA Hike: Central govt staff may get 4% hike in DA in March under 7th Pay Commission

The Centre is likely to hike the dearness allowance (DA) for central employees by 4 per cent in March. Dearness Allowance is given to government employees, while Dearness Relief (DR) is given to pensioners. The dearness allowance is revised twice a year — in January and July. The announcement is made public in March mostly.  

The amount of hike in DA and dearness relief (DR) is decided by the central government on the basis of the All-India CPI-IW data. The DA was last revised in October 2023, when DA was increased by 4 per cent to 46 per cent.

This time, after the 4% DA hike, dearness allowance and dearness relief will increase to 50 per cent, as per news reports. The 12-month average of the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) stood at 392.83. As per this, DA is coming to 50.26 per cent of the basic pay. 

Dearness Allowance per cent = ((Average of AICPI (Base Year 2001=100) for the past 12 months -115.76)/115.76) *100 

Earlier this month, the Yogi Adityanath-led government approved 10% hike in dearness allowance for regular roadways employees which it will be 38 per cent. The move will benefit nearly 12,000 employees. West Bengal is the other state to have raised the DA limit for its employees. The state declared a 4% increase in Dearness Allowance (DA) for state government employees. 

In December 2023, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann announced a 4 per cent hike in dearness allowance for government employees. The DA has increased from 34 per cent to 38 per cent with effect from December 1, which benefitted 3.25 lakh employees and 3.50 lakh pensioners in Punjab.