DA hike 2026: Formula explained for central government employees

Dearness allowance is extra money the Indian government gives to its workers and retired workers.

It helps them afford things when prices of food and other goods go up.

This extra money is a percentage of their basic salary.

The government checks and updates this amount twice every year.

Recently, it went up from 58 percent to 60 percent of basic salary.

That means if a worker's basic salary was 100 rupees, they now get 60 rupees of extra allowance instead of 58.

The government uses a special price index to decide how much to increase it.

The index tracks how much prices of everyday goods change over a year.

Some workers' groups say the index misses real price rises for food and other essentials.

They want the government to make a new index just for workers, so the extra allowance truly keeps up with living costs.