Holi gift for central govt employees: Dearness allowance hiked by 6% to 125%

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday hiked dearness allowance (DA) to 125 percent from existing 119 percent, which would benefit over 10 million central government employees and pensioners.

The new rate of DA will be implemented from January 1, 2016, which will be applicable for 4.8 million central government employees and 5.5 million pensioners. DA is paid as a proportion of basic pay of employees.

The Centre revised DA twice in a year on the basis of one year average of retail inflation for industrial workers as per the accepted formula.

Earlier in September last year, DA was increased to 119 percent from 113 percent which was effective from July 1, 2015.

In April last year, the government had hiked DA by 6 percentage points to 113 percent of their basic pay with effect from January 1, 2015.