Much to market expectations, the Union Cabinet led by PM Narendra Modi on Friday announced the much awaited Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief Hike for lakhs of central government employees. The Modi government today announced hiked the dearness allowance by 2 percent, thus taking the DA from 53 percent to 55 percent.

Central government employees will get the hiked salary for the month of March along with  two months’ arrears i.e, for the month of January and February. Serving government employees receive DA, while pensioners receive DR.

The 2 percent DA hike has been the lowest DA hike in the last 7 years. The 2 percent increase in DA will mark the lowest DA hike since July 2018. The last DA Hike was announced in October 2024.