DA Calculation: 8th Pay Commission latest: Central employees are awaiting the recommendations of the Eighth Pay Commission. The Pay Commission’s recommendations are still a year and a half away, but before that, many questions are swirling in the minds of central employees. For example, what will happen to their dearness allowance (DA) for the first half of the new year? Meanwhile, the omission of several key points from the Commission’s Terms of Reference (ToR) recently released by the government has also created confusion.
Why is there confusion?
In fact, the 10-year cycle of the 7th Pay Commission ends on December 31, 2025, and the next DA or Dearness Relief (DR) revision will, for the first time, occur outside of an active Pay Commission cycle. The 8th Pay Commission report will be released in at least 18 months. Consequently, central employees could face this situation three times. The 8th Pay Commission’s Terms of Reference are also unclear.
Following the government’s release of the Terms of Reference, the staff side of the National Council (NC-JCM) and several employee unions have raised serious objections. They say they submitted a detailed charter of demands to the government, but the ToR ignores many of their key issues. Dissatisfaction among employees is also growing because the government has yet to officially respond to the ToR-related issues.
Many MPs have questioned the government regarding the Terms of Reference. In such a situation, the employees are hopeful that some clarity can be obtained on this in the Parliament session starting from 1st December. The government can also give some clarity on the DA for the next half year in the House. Experts believe that till January 2026, July 2026, January 2027 and beyond, till the 8th Pay Commission is not implemented, DA will be calculated on the basic salary of the existing 7th Pay Commission and will keep increasing every six months. Let us tell you that currently the DA of central employees is 58 percent, it is likely to be 61-62 percent in March 2026.