Over 5% DA hike for Central government employees likely

When will the Centre announce hike in Dearness Allowance for the Central government employees? Will the hike be around 5 per cent or even more than that... These are the questions that lakhs of government employees want to be answered at the earliest.

The Centre revises DA of its employees twice a year in January and July to set off inflation. When there is a high retail inflation, the chances of a higher increase in dearness allowance are more. 

It is pertinent to mention here that the DA varies from employee to employee based on their work location- urban sector, semi-urban sector or rural sector.

Recently, the All-India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers increased by 1.7 points for April 2022 and stood at 127.7. On 1-month percentage change, it increased by 1.35 per cent with respect to March, compared to an increase of 0.42 per cent recorded between the corresponding months a year ago.

The year-on-year inflation for the month also stood at 6.33 per cent compared to 5.35 per cent for the previous month and 5.14 per cent during the corresponding month a year before while the food inflation stood at 7.05 per cent against 6.27 per cent of the previous month and 4.78 per cent during the corresponding month a year ago.

As the AICP Index is a crucial factor in determining DA, the rise in the index for April has increased the hope of a good hike for the central government employees this month.

Reports are abuzz that there could be a 5 per cent hike in DA, taking the total DA of the employees to 39 per cent. Besides, if latest media reports are any thing to go by, there could be a 6 per cent DA hike.

Moreover, the government is likely to make the hike announcement towards the end of this month or on July 31. However, an official confirmation (both on the DA hike and the date of announcement) is still awaited.