New Delhi, September 1
Ahead of festival season, the Central Government will this month announce a hike in dearness allowance to 90 per cent from existing 80 per cent, benefiting about 50 lakh central employees and 30 lakh pensioners. 

According to official sources, dearness allowance hike will be 10 per cent and would be effective from July 1 this year.

The sources further said the exact amount of dearness allowance, as a proportion of basic pay, works out to over 90 per cent after factoring in the revised all-India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) for June.

According to revised data released on August 30, retail inflation for factory workers for June stood at 11.63 per cent, higher than provisional estimate of 11.06 per cent for the month released on July 31.

Sources said since the revised estimate for June is available, the Finance Ministry would soon prepare a proposal for the purpose for seeking Union Cabinet nod. There would be a double digit hike in DA after about three years. It was last in September, 2010, that the government had announced a hike of 10 per cent to be given with effect from July 1, 2010. — PTI