Centre likely to hike dearness allowance by 4 per cent to 42 per cent

The central government is likely to increase the dearness allowance (DA) for its over one crore employees and pensioners by four percentage points to 42 per cent from the existing 38 per cent as per the agreed formula.

The dearness allowance for employees and pensioners is worked out on the basis of the latest Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) brought out by the Labour Bureau every month. The Labour Bureau is a wing of the Labour Ministry.

Talking to PTI, All India Railwaymen Federation, General Secretary, Shiva Gopal Mishra said, "The CPI-IW for December 2022 was released on January 31, 2023. The dearness allowance hike works out to be 4.23 per cent. But the government does not factor in hiking DA beyond the decimal point. Thus DA is likely to be increased by four percentage points to 42 per cent.”

He further explained that the Finance Ministry's expenditure department will formulate a proposal to hike DA along with its revenue implication and will put up the proposal before the Union Cabinet for approval. The DA hike will be effective from January 1, 2023.