India’s one of the biggest festivals like Holi is in the corner. Every year, central employees look forward to the dearness allowance increase, and it seems their wait is almost over. The central government is likely to surprise its millions of employees with some good news soon, although we’re still waiting for an official announcement.
In the past, the government has given a nice Diwali bonus by raising the DA just before the festival, with a 3 percent increase last time. Additionally, there was a 4 percent hike in January 2024.
You might hear some good news before Holi! Various media outlets suggest that the central government could announce the dearness allowance hike for January 2025 ahead of the Holi festival, which falls on March 14 this year. So, we might see an announcement as early as next week. According to the guidelines of the 7th Pay Commission, the dearness allowance is adjusted twice a year—once on January 1 and again on July 1—providing significant relief to government employees and pensioners.
So, how is the DA hike determined? The central government revises salaries for industrial workers based on the All India Consumer Price Index. They evaluate inflation every six months, and the DA increase is announced based on those assessments.
It’s common knowledge that the dearness allowance kicks in on either January 1 or July 1. However, the official announcement usually comes a couple of months later. For the dearness allowance increase set for January 2025, the government will base its calculations on data from July to December 2024.
This time, a notable increase is anticipated. It’s important to mention that the All India CPI-IW dropped to 143.7 in December. This drop suggests a 2 percent rise in DA for central government employees, pushing it up to 55.98 percent. Just to recap, the last DA hike happened in October, right before Diwali, when it was raised by 3 percent, bringing the dearness allowance for central employees from 50% to 53%.