7th Pay Commission: If you are a central government employee or have a family member, you should definitely read this news. This news concerns 5 million central government employees and 6.5 million pensioners. Many people are concerned about what will happen to dearness allowance (DA), house rent allowance (HRA), and other allowances after January 2026, when the 8th Pay Commission is implemented. The government has formed the three-member 8th Central Pay Commission, headed by Justice Ranjana Desai. This commission will submit its report within 18 months, which means its report will be available by June-July 2027.
The biggest relief is that the new pay scale will be considered effective from January 1, 2026. This means that after the report is released, all previous arrears will be disbursed in one go. The biggest question, therefore, is whether DA will stop after January 2026. Payroll expert Ramachandran Krishnamurthy clearly stated that until the 8th Pay Commission is fully implemented, the 7th Pay Commission will remain in effect. Therefore, DA, HRA, and TA will continue to increase as before.
DA hikes three times in 18 months!
The government will hike DA three times in 18 months. Currently, central government employees are receiving 58% DA starting in July 2025. This could increase to 61-62% in January 2026. After this, it will reach around 64-65% from July 2026. After this, DA is expected to reach 67-68% in January 2027. This means that by 2027, you will receive three increases in your dearness allowance (DA). This increase will be based on the CPI (Inflation Index). However, it is clear that the DA hikes are not going to stop anytime soon.
All India NPS Federation Chairman Manjeet Singh Patel said that when the 8th Pay Commission is implemented, all the DA increases that have already been made will be merged into the basic salary. This means that your new basic pay will already be good. Talking about the fitment factor, it is currently 2.57. However, an increase of about 9-10% in 18 months is expected. With two years of annual increments (3% + 3% = 6%), the basic pay will already have increased by 20-22%. This could automatically increase the fitment factor to 3.0 to 3.5.
Based on these figures, it’s clear that DA, HRA, and TA will continue to increase even after January 2026. A DA hike is guaranteed every six months. The new salary will be effective from January 1, 2026, and full arrears are expected.