42% Dearness Allowance from January 2023 confirmed with Nov '22 CPI-IW

The Labor Bureau, an attached office of the M/o Labour & Employment, has released the India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers, or CPI-IW, for the month of November 2022. The index, which has 2016 as its base year 2016, remained unchanged from the previous month at 132.5. 

Inflation year over year for the month was 5.41 per cent, down from 6.08 per cent for the month before and 4.84 per cent for the same month the year before. In a similar vein, food inflation was 4.30 per cent compared to 6.52 per cent last month and 3.40 per cent in the same month a year earlier.

Some items had been expensive over the period, with the maximum upward pressure in the current index coming from the Miscellaneous group, which contributed 0.21 percentage points to the total change. However, this increase was largely checked by apples, bananas, oranges, brinjal, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, gourds/lauki, lady fingers, etc. putting downward pressure on the index.

The increase in dearness allowance is one of the most eagerly anticipated pieces of news for CG staff. The AI CPI-IW statistics will serve as the cornerstone for calculating the rise in Dearness Allowance for central government employees. Beginning in January 2023, the Dearness Allowance will be computed using the CPI-IW for the months of January through December 2022. And since the index for only one month is remaining to be available, the DA from January 2023 will be in all respects 42%, again with a hike of 4%. However, the index for the month of December 2022 will be released at the end of January 20. Also, the cabinet has to approve the DA hike and the Finance Ministry has to issue the OM before the central government staff can receive the increased DA in their hands. It will be around March end or April begining before the good news.