DA hike for central govt employees: Will 3% increase be announced this week?
Nearly a month after the Labour Bureau released the All India Consumer Price Index (AICPI) data for June 2026, central government employees are still waiting for the Ministry of Finance to officially announce the next Dearness Allowance (DA) hike.
Based on the latest inflation readings, the DA is estimated to rise by 3%, bringing the total allowance to 63%.
When will the DA hike be announced?
The announcement is expected imminently, likely ahead of Dussehra.
According to a recent ET Wealth report, MS Vengatesan, secretary general of the Confederation of Central Government Employees & Workers (CCGEW), has formally urged the Finance Ministry to expedite the process.
Manjeet Singh Patel, president of the All India New Pension Scheme Employees’ Federation, along with other ET Wealth sources at the All India Defence Employees’ Federation, indicated that the necessary paperwork is being processed and that a formal announcement can be expected by the first week of October.
Festive season trend
Historically, the government aligns its DA announcements with the festive season, specifically around Dussehra.
However, recent years have seen the announcement lag slightly behind the festival:
How is the 63% DA calculated?
The DA is determined using the 12-month average of the AICPI-IW (Industrial Workers) reading. Between July 2025 and June 2026, the average index value stood at 148.65.
AICPI reading source: Labour Bureau
To find the final percentage, this data is plugged into the government’s standard calculation formula:
- First, the current 2016 base-year value is converted to the older 2001 base year by multiplying the 12-month average (148.65) by a linking factor of 2.88.
- This brings the converted average to 428.11.
- Using the central formula—[(428.11 – 261.42) / 261.42] x 100—the calculation yields an expected DA of 63.76%.
Following standard government practice, the decimal is ignored, establishing the revised DA rate at a flat 63%. The final confirmation, however, remains pending until the Finance Ministry issues the official notification.
