7th Pay Commission: Salary For Govt Employees to Hike Again, Here’s How Much DA Could Increase

7th Pay Commission: Dearness allowance was last time hiked by 4 per cent, which became effective from January 1, 2023 and after the 4 per cent hike, the DA was increased to 42 per cent.

7th Pay Commission: After the recent hike in dearness allowance, the Central government employees are now eagerly waiting to see another hike in their salary from next July 1. If reports are to be believed, the Central government employees are going to receive a DA hike again in July this year. The salary hike comes as the Seventh Pay Commission mandates an increase in the dearness allowance twice a year — during January and July respectively. However, an official announcement on this is awaited.

Dearness allowance was last time hiked by 4 per cent, which became effective from January 1, 2023 and after the 4 per cent hike, the DA was increased to 42 per cent.

Prior to this, the DA was hiked in September 2022 by 4 per cent, which became effective from July 2022.

Now, in the coming time, the DA is expected to increase by another 3-4 per cent, and will be effective from July, according to a report by Zee News. Over 47.58 lakh central government employees and 69.76 lakh pensioners are going to be benefitted from the hike in DA.

Here’s How DA Hike is Calculated?

The dearness allowance is calculated based on the CPI-IW index, which is released every month by the Labor Bureau, a branch of the Ministry of Labour. Based on the CPI-IW index data, the Centre decides whether the DA will increase or not.

This year, there has been a decline in All India Consumer Price Index (AICPI) during February, but it has now shown an upward trend during March. This has triggered a speculation that the DA may increase soon.

The government employees must note that the DA and DR are revised twice a year – once in January and then second time in July. While dearness allowance is given to government employees, the dearness relief is given to pensioners. Significantly, the DA is given to employees based on the basic pay of the employees, while the DR is given on the basis of basic pension.

States Hike DA For Govt Employees

Recently several states including Jharkhand, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh increased the DA for their respective state government employees.

The Jharkhand government increased the dearness allowance for its employees to 42 per cent from 34 per cent. The DA was hiked in line with the accepted formula based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission.