New Delhi. Central employees and pensioners are now eyeing the next installment of dearness allowance. Currently DA is 60%, which was implemented by the Central Government from January 2026. Now the discussion is intense regarding the next increase to be implemented from July 2026.
Dearness allowance is determined on the basis of data related to CPI-IW i.e. Consumer Price Index of Industrial Workers. According to the Labor Bureau, CPI-IW had increased to 153.2 in July 2026.
Discussion of 3 or 4 percent increase
Based on current calculations, there is a possibility of increase in DA by 3 to 4 percent. If there is a 4% increase then DA will increase from 60% to 64%. If there is an increase of 3%, it can become 63%. However, the final decision will become clear only after the official announcement of the Central Government.
Let us tell you that this will also affect the basic salary and pension of the employees. For example, an employee with a basic salary of ₹50,000 gets ₹30,000 at 60% DA. At 63% it will become ₹31,500 and at 64% it will become ₹32,000.
Pensioners along with central employees also get the benefit of change in DA. For pensioners it is called Dearness Relief (DR). About 50.46 lakh employees and 68.27 lakh pensioners had benefited from the previous hike.
At present there has been no final government announcement regarding the 4% increase, so employees will have to wait for the official decision. Based on media reports the government is generally expected to do it by October 2026 (before Navratri or Diwali).