DA Calculator: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a 3 percent increase in dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) for approximately 49.19 lakh central government employees and 68.72 lakh pensioners.
After this latest increase, the dearness allowance of central government employees will increase from 55 percent to 58 percent. Similarly, the dearness relief given to retired central government employees will also increase from 55 percent to 58 percent. This increase in DA and DR will be effective from July 1, 2025. This means that along with the salary for September, employees and pensioners will also get arrears from July to September.
DA is paid on basic salary
Dearness allowance and dearness relief given to employees are given according to their basic salary. Suppose an employee’s basic salary is Rs 60,000, then earlier he was being given a dearness allowance of Rs 33,000 at the rate of 55 percent. After this latest increase, he will now get a dearness allowance of Rs 34,800 at the rate of 58 percent. This means, the employee’s salary will now increase by Rs 1800 every month. Along with this, Rs 5400 will be given separately along with the salary of the employees as arrears from July to September.
| Basic Salary (Estimated) | YES 55% | DA 58% (after hike) | salary hike |
| Rs 60,000 | Rs 33,000 | Rs 34,800 | 1800 rupees |
The central government had also increased DA in January this year.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, while giving information about the decisions taken in the cabinet meeting, said that the increase in DA and DR will have an annual impact of Rs 10,083.96 crore on the exchequer. This increase is as per the approved formula based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission. Earlier, in March 2025, the central government had increased DA and DR by 2 percent each for its employees and pensioners, which was effective from January 1, 2025. It should be noted that governments keep increasing the dearness allowance for their employees from time to time keeping in mind the rising inflation.
