Andhra Pradesh raises DA to 41.86%: how much will employees get, and when? | Explained

The Andhra Pradesh Secretariat at Velagapudi. | Photo Credit: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

The story so far:

The Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to sanction two long-pending Dearness Allowance (DA) instalments is set to provide relief to nearly five lakh government employees, teachers, university faculty and local body personnel. G.O. Ms. No. 119 and G.O. Ms. No. 120 together provide for a 4.55 percentage point increase in DA for employees covered by the Revised Pay Scales (RPS) 2022, taking the total DA from 37.31% to 41.86% of basic pay.

When will employees see the increase?

The enhanced DA will be reflected in salaries from the September pay cycle, paid at the beginning of October. The benefit has also been extended, as applicable, to higher education teaching staff drawing salaries under the University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) scales.

What do terms such as “1/19 DA” or “1/25 DA” mean?

For those unfamiliar with government payroll terminology, references such as 1/19 DA, 7/19 DA or 1/25 DA identify the month and year from which a particular DA instalment is applicable. The first figure denotes the month (1 for January and 7 for July), and the other figures indicate the year. Thus, 1/19 DA means DA applicable from January 2019, and 1/25 DA refers to January 2025. Since DA is generally revised twice a year to compensate employees for the impact of inflation, several such instalments can accumulate when their release is delayed.