New Delhi, June 6 -- A component of the basic salary, Dearness Allowance aims to help mitigate cost-of-living expenses for central government employees, public sector staff, defence personnel, bank employees, and pensioners. DA is revised bi-annually by the All-India Consumer Price Index (AICPI) with new announcements in March and October followed by rollouts in January and July.

So far in 2026, states including Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have announced DA hikes of varying percentages. This came after the Union Finance Ministry in April revised DA and dearness relief (DR) by 2% with effect from 1 January this year. This effectively takes the component up from 58% to 60% of Basic Pay.

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