7th Pay Commission: Sources say the central government may make two major announcements before the elections. Under these notifications, along with the increase in subsidy, the house rent allowance may also increase.
7th Pay Commission Latest Update: New Year is coming in few days. Central elections are going to be held in 2024. Before this, central government employees and pensioners are expected to get big New Year gifts. Sources say that the central government may make two major announcements before the elections. Under these notifications, along with the increase in subsidy, the house rent allowance may also increase. Currently, central employees are getting 46 per cent dearness allowance from July onwards. DA is expected to increase by 4 to 5 percent in January. If that happens, the total discount rate of the employees will increase to 50 to 51 percent.
How are the AICPI index statistics?
The latest figures of the AICPI Index show a score of 138.4. There has been an increase of 0.9 points. This is the data for the month of October. The data was released at the end of November. Data for November and December is yet to come. There is a change in the fee every year twice. Fees are revised in January and July. Depreciation rate (DA) for January is determined based on AICPI data for July to December of previous year and Depreciation rate for July is based on AICPI index for January to June.
House Rent Allowance
Once the subsidy reaches 50%, the house rent allowance i.e. HRA can be increased by 3 percent. If this happens, the salaries of employees will increase significantly in 2024. However, the official confirmation regarding this is yet to be received from the government. So far the AICPI index data for July to October is out and the index has reached 138.4 points and the DA score is 49 per cent. In such a scenario, it is assumed that DA will increase again by at least 4%. Figures for November and December 2023 are yet to come. Only after they arrive will the rate of increase in Depreciation Rate (DA) in 2024 be decided.
HRA will exceed 30 percent
The next revision in House Rent Allowance will be 3%. The current maximum rate is 27 percent. After revision the maximum rate will be 30%. But this happens only when the discount reaches 50%. As per the 7th Pay Commission memorandum, the HRA will change to 30%, 20% and 10% depending on the city category once the subsidy reaches 50 per cent. There are categories of house rent allowance according to X, Y and Z class cities. As of now, central employees in category X get 27 percent HRA. If DA rises to 50%, this becomes 30%. At the same time, it will go up from 18 per cent to 20 per cent for Y category employees. It will go up from 9 percent to 10 percent for Class Z population.
The announcement may be made before the Lok Sabha elections
It is expected to be announced in February-March, before the Lok Sabha elections. This is because the Lok Sabha election dates may be announced between April and May next year. After that the rules of conduct of election will also come into force. After that the DA cannot be raised by the central government. Before this, the Modi government may take a decision on DA during the budget session itself to woo central employees. This will benefit more than 48 lakh central government employees and 68 lakh pensioners.
