Central government employees and pensioners are still waiting for the Centre to announce the next Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) hike, due with effect from July 1, 2026.
The Union Cabinet meeting held on October 14 did not bring an announcement, leaving employees looking to previous years for clues about when the decision might come.
With Dussehra falling on October 20 and Diwali on November 8, expectations are building around a possible announcement during the festive season.
However, while past revisions have often been announced between late September and October, the government has not confirmed a date for the 2026 hike.
The Centre generally revises DA and DR twice a year, with the increases taking effect from January 1 and July 1. But the formal announcement often comes weeks or months after the effective date.
The dates show that late September and October have been the usual announcement window in recent years. In three of the five years—2021, 2023 and 2024—the decision came after October 16.
This suggests that an announcement later in October remains possible, but past timelines do not guarantee when the government will act this year.
What happened to the DA hike in 2025?
In 2025, the Centre announced the July DA and DR revision on October 1, ahead of the festive season. The Cabinet approved a 3-percentage-point increase, taking the rates from 55% to 58%. The decision benefited around 1.17 crore central government employees and pensioners.
The announcement reinforced the pattern of the July instalment being cleared in the months following its effective date.
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