Cabinet approves 3% hike in dearness allowance for central government employees

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Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. File | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

The Cabinet on Wednesday (October 28, 2026) approved a 3% hike in dearness allowance and dearness relief, benefiting over 1.17 crore central government employees and pensioners.

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Announcing the decision, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken the decision to increase the DA and DR ahead of Diwali.

The increase will be effective from July 1, 2026.

The decision will benefit 48.54 lakh employees and 68.71 lakh pensioners.

The Cabinet also approved the Container Manufacturing Promotion Scheme (CMPS) with a budgetary outlay of Rs 10,000 crore up to FY40 to promote a globally competitive container manufacturing ecosystem in India.

Meanwhile, the government allocated ₹7,395 crore to the Pradhan Mantri Viksit Gram Swaraj Yojana. Mr. Vaishnaw called it a paradigm shift from prescription-based schemes to a model focused on capacity building and planning at the local level.

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