7th Pay Commission: DA Hiked By 8% In THIS State for Govt Employees, Details Here

7th Pay Commission: The Gujarat government has announced an 8 per cent hike in the dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees and pensioners under the 7th Pay Commission, with retrospective effect. At least 9.38 lakh state government employees and pensioners who are covered under the 7th Pay Commission will benefit from the hike.

A 4 per cent hike will be given with retrospective effect from July 1, 2022, while another 4 per cent increase in DA will come into force from January 1, 2023, according to an official statement. The hike has been given as per the central government criteria, it said.

As the hike is coming into force with retrospective effect, the state government will disburse the arrears in three installments. While the first installment will be disbursed in June, the second and third will be given in October 2023 with salaries of that month, the release stated, adding that the hike in DA will put an additional burden of Rs 4,516 crore on the state exchequer every year.

Recently, the Tamil Nadu government approved a 4 per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees. The move, which would entail an additional expenditure of Rs 2,366.82 crore annually to the exchequer, will benefit 16 lakh government employees, teachers, pensioners and those receiving family pensions.

Before this, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan governments also raised their dearness allowances.

For central government employees, the last revision in DA was done in March raising it by 4 per cent, which became effective from January 1, 2023. After the 4 per cent hike, the DA of central government employees increased to 42 per cent. Before this, the DA was hiked in September 2022 by 4 per cent, which became effective from July 2022.

Dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) are revised twice a year, effective January 1 and July 1. According to recent media reports, the government is likely to raise the dearness allowance by another 4 per cent in July this year.

Apart from this, the government might also raise fitment factor to raise minimum salary. The minimum salary of government employees is expected to see a rise from Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000 for central government employees after the hike in the fitment factor, according to the reports. The reports said that the government is expected to revise the fitment factor and dearness allowance (DA) soon. However, there is no official word on this.