Central D.A. likely to be announced today.

   The Union Cabinet is expected to meet this evening to consider a 7 per cent hike in the Dearness Allowance (DA) of Central government employees.

   Once approved, it will benefit over 52 lakh government employees.  The meetings of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI), scheduled for Friday, were postponed apparently in view of the rapid political developments in the aftermath of the government's decision to hike diesel prices and operationalise its earlier move to allow Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi- brand retail.

Additional DA from 1.1.2012, Cabinet likely to approve today.

   We expected the same that didn’t happen last week, but Today Cabinet may approve 7% additional Dearness allowance from 1.1.2012 for Central Government staff and pensioners.

   Normally, the decision on announcing DA to the central government employees was to take place on the 2nd week of March and September every year. But this procedure was being postponed for various reasons. Last year, the announcement of DA from July 2011 was also postponed. The decision on the additional DA from March 2012 is expected to be finalized on 22.03.2012 at the Cabinet meeting scheduled on that day. 

   As of now, an increase of 7% is expected which will raise the DA from 58% to 65%. As usual, the DA for March will be paid in April and the arrears for the other two months will be paid separately.