NEW DELHI: The Union Government on Friday hiked dearness allowance for its over one crore employees and pensioners by 4 per cent, taking the total to 42 per cent from 38 per cent effective from January 2023.

The decision was taken at the meeting of the Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. The move as per the 7th pay commission would benefit 47.58 lakh central government employees and 69.76 lakh pensioners.

The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both dearness allowance and dearness relief would be Rs 12,815.60 crore per annum.

The previous hike was announced in September last year when the DA was hiked from 34 to 38 per cent.

Dearness Allowance is provided by the central government for its employees to adjust to the inflation-like situation.Pensioners also get dearness relief same as the amount received by the employees of the central government.