Central government employees to get 5 per cent DA hike anytime soon: Experts

While Modi 2.0 government's first Union Budget for the financial year 2019-20 dashed the hopes of Central government employees in many grounds, experts are hopeful that the Dearness Allowance (DA) can be increased by 5 per cent in near future. Ahead of Budget 2019, the CG employees were expecting a revised tax slab, an increment in minimum pay and fitment factor beyond the 7th Pay Commission recommendations.

If experts' predictions turn out to be true, the Centre is going to announce a hike in DA up to five per cent anytime soon. It will be the biggest increase in the DA since the implementation of the 7th pay scale in 2016.

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Speaking to Zee Business Online, Harishankar Tiwari, Former Secretary and Assistant Secretary of All India Audit and Accounts Association, AG Office Brotherhood, Allahabad, said, "An increase in DA is possible because, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data, inflation has increased in April 2019".

"This time there is a more chance in DA increment because inflation rates have been increased in CPI data of April and May 2019," RK Verma, Coordinator of the State Employee Joint Council, UP said.

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In January this year, the Central government, in an employee-friendly move, had increased the DA by three per cent. Since then, many state governments have been following the suit and have already announced hike in DA for their employees. Those states include Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha and Rajasthan among others.