7th Pay Commission latest news: DA hike of 4 pct announced for central government employees

7th Pay Commission latest news: The Narendra Modi Government has today announced a 4% Dearness Allowance (DA) hike for the central government employees and pensioners. This 4 per cent DA hike will become applicable for the central government employees and pensioners from 1st January 2020, which means when the March 2020 salary and pension will be credited into the respective beneficiaries' accounts, they will get two months arrears (January and February) as well. This central government's decision will aid around 35 lakh existing central government employees while 25 central government pensioners. After this 4 per cent DA announcement, central government employees' monthly salary will go up by Rs 720 to Rs 10,000 per month, say experts.

For further information to the readers, the Central Government announces DA twice in a year. This 4 per cent DA hike is H1-2020 DA, which central government employees and pensioners were expecting around Holi. This 4 per cent DA hike is in sync with the expectation of the central government employees and pensioners as the Central Government had announced the inflation data from July 2019 to October 2019 where 3 point rise in inflation was reported.  

See Zee Business Live TV streaming below:

Speaking on the matter Harishankar Tiwari, Former president at AG Brotherhood, who is based in Prayagraj said, "The Central Government has announced 4 per cent DA because the AICPI (All India Consumer Price Index) remained at 325 in November and December 2019, due to which January 2020 DA went above 21 per cent. Currently, the DA rate is 17 per cent only. That's why there were speculation about 4 per cent DA hike for central government employees and pensioners."

Elaborating upon the DA calculations, Tiwari added, "In November 2019, AICPI inflation was at 328 basis points and AICPI data didn't go down by 12 points, which made the central government to announce 4 per cent DA." He said that the reason for AICPI data not going down in December 2019 was due to the essential commodities price skyrocketing during December.

Salary hike expected

After the central government's announcement of 4 per cent DA for its employees, the Level-1 central government employees will get around Rs 720 monthly salary hike. Apart from DA, they will get their Travel Allowance (TA) hike by the same percentage point as well. However, Cabinet Secretary level central government employees will get around Rs 10,000 monthly salary hike. It should be noted that the basic salary of the Level-1 central government employees is Rs 18,000 while for the Cabinet Secretary levels central government employees' basic salary is Rs 2.5 lakh.