7th pay commission DA and HRA hikes likely to benefit the Government Employees

The central government employees are likely to get two benefits this year DA hike and an increase in HRA, where the likely increase of dearness allowance [DA] by 4 to 5 percent, will reach 50 percent making a decent salary increase. The noted point is that the employees who live in a rented house get the benefit of HRA and the amount of HRA differs from city to city, which means the employees who live in tier-1 cities would get more HRA than the employee who lives in tier-II or tier-III cities.

Presently, the employees are getting a dearness allowance [DA ] around 46 percent, where a 4% increase is mostly expected. In general, the DA rate is revised twice a year - in January and July- based on the half-yearly data of the AICPI index. A total of 8% DA was increased in 2023.

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Normally, the DA rate is revised twice a year - in January and July- based on the half-yearly data of the AICPI index.

The HRA [House Rent Allowance] is subsequently based upon the category of cities- Broadly the category is divided into 3- categories, X, Y and Z

The city with the 'X' category includes areas with a population of 50 lakh and more and employees in this city category get 24 percent HRA as per the recommendation of the Central Pay Commission [CPC] under the 7th Pay Commission.

The city 'Y' includes a population between 5 lahks to 50 lakh and the employees living in this category get 16 percent HRA of the basic salary.

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The city 'Z' category includes those employees whose population is less than 5 lakh and the employees get 8 percent HRA hike in this category.

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