North India Statesman
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New Delhi: The eyes of crores of central government employees and pensioners are now fixed on the first week of this new financial year. Everyone is eagerly waiting for the increase in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR), pending from January 2026. Like every year, this time too it was expected that the government would give the gift of DA on the occasion of Holi, but no decision could be taken on this even in the last cabinet meeting of March. Now the employees are fully expected to get some good news from the important cabinet meeting to be held today on April 1 (Wednesday). It is believed that the government may make an official announcement today regarding increase in dearness allowance.
After all, why is there so much delay in the announcement of DA?
According to experts, the biggest reason behind the delay in the announcement of DA this time is the transition between the 7th and 8th Pay Commission. The time for 7th Pay Commission has ended and 8th Pay Commission has been implemented, but its recommendations are yet to come. Due to this change, the government is taking some time and moving cautiously. Apart from this, the government is also trying to strike a right balance between the inflation rate (CPI-IW) data and its expenditure, so that there is no sudden huge financial burden on the exchequer.
How much can your dearness allowance increase?
If we analyze the current data and calculations, this time an increase of about 2 percent in DA is being estimated. This simply means that dearness allowance of central employees can jump from 58% to 60%. However, mathematically the DA is 60.33%, but as per the trend the government can round it off and fix it at 60% only.
How is DA of employees decided?
Dearness Allowance is mainly calculated on the basis of Average Consumer Price Index (CPI-IW) of the last 12 months. This data is released every month by the government and considering this inflation data as the basis, DA is changed twice a year (in January and July). This directly affects the take-home salary of employees and the income of pensioners. The increase may be small, but it impacts the budget of millions of families in the country.
There will be a jump in salary, you will get huge arrears
The biggest relief for the employees is that today or whenever the government officially announces the DA increase, it will be considered effective from January 1, 2026. That means, along with the new increased salary, the employees will also get the arrears for the months of January, February and March, which will give a significant boost to their pockets.
