dearness allowance
A large number of government employees in India are going to benefit from the announcements of increase in Dearness Allowance (DA) by different state governments. In April, the central government had increased DA from 58 percent to 60 percent of the basic salary, which came into effect from January 1 this year.
The central government usually updates DA twice a year using data from the ‘All-India Consumer Price Index’ (AICPI). New announcements are made in March and October and are implemented in January and July. The purpose of this step is to help in the living expenses of employees and pensioners amid rising inflation.
Punjab Cabinet is considering the dues and arrears of DA, DR
The Punjab government on May 30 said it will consider payment of pending DA and DR of state government employees (all categories) and pensioners for the period from July 1, 2021 to March 31, 2024. The government also said that a sub-committee will discuss the payment of arrears of employees and pensioners on the basis of revised salaries and pension benefits for the period from January 1, 2016 to June 30, 2021. On the same day, the government also said that it has approved the process of abolishing and regularizing the decades-old contract employment system for more than 65,000 employees in 51 government departments.
Recently, on July 11, the Joint Coordination Committee (JAC) of Punjab government employees and pensioners demanded that the state government fulfill their long pending demands and find an early solution. He has made the following demands. Which includes approval of 18% DA increase, re-implementation of Old Pension Scheme (OPS), implementation of 4-9-14 Assured Career Progression (ACP) scheme, withdrawal of notifications related to probation and pay rules, regularization of contract, outsourced and other temporary employees, revision of pension as per the recommendations of the Sixth Punjab State Pay Commission, resumption of withdrawn allowances, increase in retirement gratuity, This includes implementing the remaining recommendations of the Sixth Punjab State Pay Commission, and extending the benefit of minimum wage to women working on honorarium under various government schemes.
Himachal Pradesh is reviewing DA, pension and dues
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said that the state government is reviewing the DA (dearness allowance) and dues for its employees and pensioners. He said that the government will take care of their welfare and interests. In June, the state had also announced that employees taking study leave for higher education will get full salary including DA and House Rent Allowance (HRA). Sukhu said that now during study leave, employees will get 100 percent salary (on the basis of last received salary), whereas earlier this limit was 40 percent.
In July, Himachal Pradesh State Forest Development Corporation (HPSFDC) said that employees will get a 3% hike in DA from April 1, 2025. The HPSFDC board has also approved bonus for 175 employees of the department whose monthly salary is up to Rs 21,000. It has increased the minimum wage for different categories of employees from Rs 425 to Rs 450 per day from April 1, 2026.
West Bengal employees have hopes
Expressing satisfaction over the 20 per cent hike announced in the state budget last month, teachers unions in West Bengal said they expected another hike as “the previous government had left a lot of arrears”. Swapan Mandal, General Secretary of Bangiya Shikshak O Shikshakarmi Samiti, said that we are quite satisfied with this decision. Also, we will appeal to the government that the remaining 22 percent should be paid by December.
The increase takes DA for West Bengal state government employees and pensioners to 38 per cent of basic pay — still almost half of 60 per cent for central government employees. It is noteworthy that Bhaskar Ghosh, convener of the Joint Struggle Forum of State Government Employees, told the journalists that Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has promised to implement the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission by January.
Earlier in May, Bengal had approved the formation of its 7th State Pay Commission to decide the salary and DA hike for state government employees, educational institutions, government corporations, board employees and state government-aided bodies. According to state Women, Child and Social Welfare Minister Agnimitra, the scope of the salary hike will be extended to employees of municipal bodies, local bodies and statutory bodies like education boards as well as employees working in state-run educational institutions.
Onam gift for Kerala employees
According to reports, the Kerala government is considering increasing the DA (dearness allowance) for its employees by 2 percent before the festival of Onam. It can be given along with the August salary. It is estimated that this decision will put an additional burden of approximately Rs 60 crore on the state exchequer. The purpose of this step is to provide financial relief to the employees before Onam and increase their salary. This festival will be celebrated in the last week of August this year. According to the report of ‘Mathrubhoomi’, this benefit of increase in DA can be given along with the salary of August 2026. The official order is still awaited, but it is expected that this announcement will be an Onam “gift” for the state government employees.
Announcements of DA increase this year
The special thing is that after the Centre’s announcement, the Indian Banks Association (IBA) also increased the basic salary of employees and officers at all levels from Rs 48,000 to Rs 1,17,000 and DA from Rs 435 to Rs 1,050 for May, June and July 2026; And Indian Railways increased DA by 2 percent.
Many state governments also increased salaries to bring them at par with the central government. Recently, West Bengal increased DA by 20 percent last month, which came into effect from October, making it 38 percent of the basic salary.
Earlier, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh had approved a 2 per cent hike, while Bihar implemented 2 per cent hike for employees under the 7th Pay Commission, 5 per cent for employees under the 6th Pay Commission (CPC) and 9 per cent for employees under the 5th Pay Commission.
Apart from this, Maharashtra approved the payment of DA arrears (dues) of Rs 800 crore under the 5th, 6th and 7th Pay Commission for November and December 2025 and January 2026 and increased the DR (Dearness Relief) by 2 percent for retired All India Service officers.
Is there a possibility of second increase in DA?
Although there is no official information yet, but the discussion regarding further increase in DA has intensified. Employees and pensioners are expecting another 2-3 percent increase this year. According to the latest government data, the retail inflation rate increased to 4.38 percent in June 2026, while the food inflation rate reached 5.32 percent. However, the final change will depend on the June 2026 data of the Labor Bureau’s All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (AICPI-IW) and the government’s approval. It is noteworthy that AICPI-IW trends are in favor of 3-4 percent DA increase. The index stood at 149.1 in March 2026 data, 149.9 in April 2026 and 150.8 in May 2026, and is projected to be 151.7 in June 2026, provided the rate of growth remains the same as in May. Thus, even if there is no announcement of a DA hike this month, central government employees and pensioners may still see the announcement of another hike sometime in the second half of the year.
