7th Pay Commission: DA hike to HRA – Central government employees are likely to get these two benefits soon
7th Pay Commission HRA Hike: Reports suggest that the central government employees will get a DA and HRA hike this year, increasing their salaries to a significant amount.
7th Pay Commission: New Year 2024 seems to bring good news for the employees of the central government. If reports are to be believed, these government employees are likely to get two benefits this year: an increase in DA and an increase in HRA. The Center is likely to increase the dearness allowance (DA) by 4 to 5 percent this year. If the same happens, the DA will reach 50 percent and in this scenario, the Center is also likely to increase the House Rent Allowance, a report by Jagran.com said. If the Center increases DA and HRA this year, they will get a lower salary hike.
How HRA varies from city to city
It is to be noted that the employees living in a rented house receive the benefit of HRA and the amount of HRA varies from city to city.
For example, the employees living in Tier 1 cities would get more HRA than an employee living in Tier II or Tier III cities.
How much DA should be hiked?
The government employees who work under the Central Government now receive the 46% sustainability allowance. The DA increase, if implemented, will be effective from January 2024 and is expected to be announced before Holi.
In general, the DA rate is revised twice a year – in January and July – based on the semi-annual data of the AICPI index. Significantly, a total of 8% of DA was increased in 2023. Currently, central government employees are expecting an increase in the Dearness allowance of 4% or more.
Check city category for HRA
Central government employees get HRA depending on the city they live in. Based on the city category, the HRA is divided into 3 categories: X, Y and Z.
The ‘X’ category city includes areas with a population of 50 lakh and above and employees in this city category will get 24 percent HRA as per the recommendation of the Central Pay Commission (CPC) under the 7th Pay Commission. The city with a population between 5 lakh and 50 lakh falls under ‘Y’ category and the employees living in this city category will get 16 percent HRA of basic salary. And the ‘Z’ city category includes the employees with a population of less than 5 lakh and the employees will get an HRA hike of 8 percent in this category.