7th Pay Commission: Dearness Allowance (DA) and HRA of central government employees may increase in the new year. It is expected that DA of employees may increase to 50 percent in the new year. When DA will increase to 50 percent, then HRA i.e. House Rent Allowance is also sure to increase along with it.
7th Pay Commission : Dearness Allowance (DA) and HRA of central government employees may increase in the new year. It is expected that DA of employees may increase to 50 percent in the new year. When DA will increase to 50 percent, then HRA i.e. House Rent Allowance is also sure to increase along with it. If media reports are to be believed, HRA may increase by about 3 percent. In such a situation, there will be a huge increase in the take home salary of government employees.
What is HRA?
HRA (House Rent Allowance) is given to government employees depending on the city in which they work. This is a kind of allowance. This is available to those employees who are not living in government houses. That means, people living in rented houses get it. If you are living in a government house, then you do not get HRA. Employees are divided into three categories based on their home needs and city.
Central government will increase DA in January
Central employees currently get DA at the rate of 46%. This has been implemented from July to December 2023. The next hike in DA will be this month in January 2024, it is expected to be announced in March around Holi. The DA and DR rates of employees-pensioners are decided on the basis of half yearly data of AICPI index. In 2023, total DA has been increased by 8% including January and July. As of now it is believed that this time it may increase to 50 percent. When DA reaches 50 percent, the government will also increase HRA.
HRA may increase by 3 percent
House rent allowance is divided into 3 categories. These categories are X, Y and Z. ‘X’ category includes areas with population of 50 lakh and more. Employees falling in this category are given 24 percent HRA as per the recommendation of the Central Pay Commission (CPC) under the 7th Pay Commission. ‘Y’ is for areas with population between 5 lakh and 50 lakh. The employees living here are given HRA of 16 percent of the basic salary. ‘Z’ category includes those employees where the population is less than 5 lakh. Here HRA is given at 8 percent. Now employees can get HRA increased to 27 percent for X category, 18 percent for Y category and 9 percent for Z category. This time HRA may increase by 3 percent.
