7th Pay Commission latest news: Central government employees are likely to get a pleasant surprise early in the New Year. Chances are that the first round of Dearness Allowance (DA) hike in 2023 will be an improved one in comparison to the January 2022 hike.
Central government employees saw the DA rate rise from 31 percent to 34 percent with a 3 percent hike in January 2022. The second hike of 2022 increased DA by 4 percent, taking the figure to 38 percent.
Now, latest media reports suggest that the first DA hike of 2023 is likely to mirror the figure of 4 percent from the announcement that came around Diwali 2022. This would mean that the DA rate for central government employees under the 7th Pay Commission rules could rise to 42 percent. Such a hike would bring tremendous relief to 48 lakh employees, as well as 68 lakh pensioners in the form of Dearness Relief (DR).
The January DA hike, which is likely to be formally announced in March 2023, was expected to be around the figure of 3-5 percent. But now the figure being looked at is 4 percent, as per a latest report by DNA affiliate Zee News.
Read More: Central Govt Employee? Rule that made NPS partial withdrawal easy during the pandemic changed
Big change in DA
Ahead of the next rounds of DA hike in the new year, a big change has occurred. The existing formula for DA calculation is set to be replaced with a new formula, by the Ministry of Labor and Employment.
With the new formula, the base year for DA hike has been changed. The government has released a new series of Wage Rate Index (WRI-Wage Rate Index) with the changed base year from the old old series base year of 1963-65 under the 7th Pay Commission rules.
