Centre Likely To Hike DA For Govt Employees By 4%

New Delhi: The Centre is likely to increase dearness allowance (DA) for its over one crore employees and pensioners by four percentage points to 42 per cent from the existing 38 per cent.

“The CPI-IW for December 2022 was released on January 31, 2023. The dearness allowance hike works out to be 4.23 per cent. But the government does not factor in hiking DA beyond the decimal point. Thus DA is likely to be increased by four percentage points to 42 per cent,” All India Railwaymen Federation, General Secretary, Shiva Gopal Mishra told PTI.

The expenditure department of the Finance Ministry will formulate a proposal to hike DA along with its revenue implication and will it before the Union Cabinet for approval, he added.

The DA hike will be effective from January 1, 2023.

While DA is meant for compensating employees and pensioners for the rising prices, the cost of living is reflected through Consumer Price Index Numbers for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW).  The allowance is revised periodically twice a year.

The DA was increased by four percentage points to 38% based on the percentage increase in the 12-monthly average of the All India Consumer Price Index for the period ending June 2022. This was done on September 28, 2022.