Holi festival is coming, and with it the heartbeats of Central Government employees and pensioners have also increased. Like every year, this time too lakhs of people are waiting for the government to announce the increase in their dearness allowance (DA Hike 2026). Usually the government gives this gift to its employees twice a year, around Holi and Diwali. This year Holi is on March 4, so there is a lot of talk about whether the box of happiness will open before the festival or we will have to wait a little longer. However, the trends and data of the last few years have created suspense on when the DA increase will be announced. Let’s look at the DA revision trend in the last five years, how much the DA hike is expected to be, and when the government is likely to announce it officially. We will also know by how much your basic salary can increase due to DA increase.
How much can be the DA increase?
Government employees and pensioners currently get 58% dearness allowance (DA Hike Latest Update), which was implemented from July 2025. Now all eyes are on the next change, which will come into effect in January 2026. According to the latest data of Labor Bureau, the All India Consumer Price Index (AICPI) for December 2025 stood at 148.2. Based on these figures, experts estimate that this time the government may increase DA by 2%, taking it from 58% to 60%.
Will there be an announcement before Holi? Know what the data says
This year Holi is on March 4, so there are speculations that the cabinet may approve the hike in the first week of March. However, if we look at the records of the last five years, the picture looks slightly different. Whenever Holi has fallen in early March, the government has often announced it after the festival.
For example, Holi in 2025 was on March 14, but the DA was announced on March 28. This happened only in 2024, when Holi was on March 25, but the announcement was made on March 7. Therefore, it is difficult to say anything for sure this time, but the expectations of the employees are still high.
How much will your salary be affected, how much will your salary increase?
The 2% increase in Dearness Allowance will have a direct impact on your monthly take-home salary.
If an employee’s basic salary is ₹50,000, he currently gets ₹29,000 as DA at 58%. Once DA reaches 60%, this amount will increase to ₹30,000, which means there will be a direct benefit of ₹1,000 every month.
Similarly, those whose basic salary is ₹1 lakh will get ₹2,000 more every month. This small amount proves to be a huge savings in a year.
First major change after 7th Pay Commission
This DA revision of January-June 2026 is important because it is the first increase after the end of the 7th Pay Commission. Although the 8th Pay Commission has started work and its report is expected by March-April 2026, it may take some time to be implemented. Experts believe that employees may have to wait till the end of 2027 or beginning of 2028 for the salary increase under the 8th Pay Commission. Till then, these DA revisions will remain their biggest source of relief from inflation.
