According to the 7th pay commission, the central government has fixed different amounts for different categories of employees. Army, Indian Air Force, Navy officers get Rs 20,000 per year as dress allowance.
There is good news for central government employees. The allowance given to employees to buy dress or specific dress will now be available more than once a year. Till now this allowance was given only once a year. The ministry issued a circular on March 24, 2025 stating that employees joining the central government service after July will also get the benefit of this allowance. That is, now the allowance will be available more than once a year.
What is dress allowance?
According to a circular issued by the Ministry of Finance on August 2017, uniform allowance includes clothing allowance, initial equipment allowance, kit maintenance allowance, robe allowance, shoe allowance, etc. The proportionate payment of dress allowance will be given using this formula: Amount / 12 x number of months (from the month of joining government service to June of the next year). For example, let’s say an employee joins the service in August of a year, and gets a dress allowance of Rs 20,000 per year. As per this formula, he will get his dress allowance on a proportionate basis, which will be Rs (20,000/12 x 11), i.e., Rs 18,333.
How much uniform allowance is given?
Under the Seventh Pay Commission, the government had fixed different amounts for different categories of central government employees. Officers of the Army, Indian Air Force, Navy, Central Armed Police Forces, and Coast Guard are eligible for a dress allowance of Rs 20,000 per year. The circular further states that “Military Nursing Service (MNS) officers, police officers and officers of the Indian Railways in Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Police Service, executive staff of Customs, Central Excise and Narcotics Department, officers of Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS), legal officers in NIA, Bureau of Immigration Personnel (at Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Amritsar, Kolkata) and all checkpoints of Bureau of Immigration are entitled to annual uniform allowance of Rs 10,000. All personnel below officer rank in Defence Services/CAPFs/Railway Protection Force/Union Territory Police Forces and Indian Coast Guard and Station Masters of Indian Railways are also entitled to uniform allowance of Rs 10,000 per annum. Other category of employees who were issued uniform and are required to wear it regularly, such as trackmen, running staff of Indian Railways, staff car drivers and canteen staff of non-statutory departmental canteens, are entitled to Rs 5,000 per annum.” Are entitled to receive dress allowance of Rs.
