New Delhi, February 2
The Centre is likely to announce next month a hike in the dearness allowance by 10% to 100%, benefiting about 50 lakh employees and 30 lakh pensioners.

It would be the second double digit DA hike in a row. The government had announced a hike of 10% to 90% in September last year, effective from July 1, 2013.

Official sources said the preliminary assessment suggests that the DA hike will not be less than 10% and would be effective from January 1 this year.

He said the exact percentage hike in DA could be calculated only when the revised all India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) for December is released on February 28. According to the provisional data released by government on January 31, the retail inflation for factory workers for the month of December stood at 9.13%.

As per practice, the government uses CPI-IW data of the past 12 months to arrive at a quantum for the purpose of any DA hike. Thus, the retail inflation for industrial workers between January 1 to December 31, 2013 would be used to take a final call on the matter. — PTI