The Union Cabinet has cleared a 3% hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) for Central Government employees on Wednesday (October 16, 2024), benefitting more than 1 crore employees and pensioners ahead of the Deepavali festive season this year.

The raise takes the DA now to 53% of the basic salary with effect from July 1, 2024.

“This increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission. The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be ₹9,448.35 crore per annum,” said the press release.

“This will benefit about 49.18 lakh central government employees and 64.89 lakh pensioners,” the release added.

The government had last hiked DA to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners on March 8, 2024, with effect from January 1, 2024. The increase then was 4 percentage points over the rate of 46% of the basic pay/ pension, to compensate against price rise.

Chhattisgarh hikes DA for State employees by 4%

Earlier in the day, the Chhattisgarh State Government had also announced a hike in DA for State employees, when Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said DA would be increased by 4%, taking it to 50% of the basic salary.