look news india
New Delhi. The festival of Diwali has brought a double gift for more than one crore serving employees and pensioners of the Central Government. In the meeting of the Union Cabinet held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the much-awaited increase of 3 percent in Dearness Allowance (DA) of central employees and Dearness Relief (DR) of pensioners has been formally approved.
With this historic increase, now the dearness allowance of central employees has increased from 60%. 63% It is done. This decision of the Central Government will increase the purchasing power of the employees during the festive season and will provide strong support to their household budget amid rising retail inflation.
This increase approved by the Cabinet has retrospective effect i.e. 1 July 2026 Will be considered applicable from.
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Increased DA will be added to October salary: The increased 63% DA will be included in the regular salary for the month of October.
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Arrears of 3 months: The previous DA arrears for the three months of July, August and September 2026 will be deposited in lump sum cash in the accounts of employees and pensioners.
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Credit before Diwali: The Department of Expenditure (DoE) of the Finance Ministry has indicated that just before Diwali, this amount of salary and arrears will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of the employees through DBT.
Dearness Allowance is calculated on the basic pay of the employee determined under the 7th Pay Commission (7th CPC). Understand from the table below how much difference this 3% increase will make in the monthly salaries of officers from minimum basic pay to higher positions:
| Basic Pay | Old DA (60%) | New DA (63%) | Direct increase in monthly salary | Total Arrears of 3 Months (July-September) |
| ₹18,000 (Minimum Basic) | ₹10,800 | ₹11,340 | +₹540 per month | ₹1,620 |
| ₹25,000 | ₹15,000 | ₹15,750 | +₹750 per month | ₹2,250 |
| ₹35,000 | ₹21,000 | ₹22,050 | +₹1,050 per month | ₹3,150 |
| ₹50,000 | ₹30,000 | ₹31,500 | +₹1,500 per month | ₹4,500 |
| ₹70,000 | ₹42,000 | ₹44,100 | +₹2,100 per month | ₹6,300 |
| ₹1,00,000 | ₹60,000 | ₹63,000 | +₹3,000 per month | ₹9,000 |
(Note: This does not include other applicable allowances like HRA, TA and PF deductions; additional difference will be seen in the net take-home salary accordingly.)
This decision of the Cabinet is not limited only to serving employees, but will also be completely applicable to more than 65 lakh central pensioners and family pensioners across the country.
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Now ‘Dearness Relief’ will be given at the rate of 63% instead of 60% on the monthly basic pension received by pensioners.
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If a pensioner’s basic pension is ₹20,000 per month, he will get an additional benefit of ₹600 every month and the arrears of ₹1,800 from July to September will be added to the pension account.
Giving 3% additional DA and DR to central employees and pensioners is estimated to put a financial burden of about ₹9,500 crore to ₹10,000 crore on the central government exchequer on an annual basis. However, economists believe that due to the arrival of cash in the hands of employees during the festive season, there will be a strong surge in consumer demand in the automobile, electronics, real estate and retail markets.