7th Pay Commission Update: Check details about DA and HRA!

Recently, the government of India has increased the Dearness Allowance to 50% for central employees. The government employees are waiting for the 7th pay commission update regarding House Rent Allowance (HRA). Let’s explore the latest 7th pay commission update in the article below.

7th Pay Commission Update

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has announced some updates in the 7th pay commission. The government has extended the DA to 4% making the DA/ DR up to 50% for the central employees and pensioners. 

The child education allowance has also been hiked to 25% from the previous allowance set at 50%. The allowance is limited to two children and in the case of a disabled child the allowance can increase twice the standard rate or DoPT may consider the case under special reimbursement. 

The gratuity limit has been hiked to 25 lakh under the new update of the 7th Pay Commission. 

Apart from these allowances, the government has updated the Night Duty Allowance (NDA),  Overtime Allowance, Special allowance, and much more effective from 1 January 2024. 

The government has not revealed much about the House Rent Allowance for the central employees. The employees must understand that the HRA depends on the city they live in and the cost of living in the particular area. 

Increase in HRA due to the 7th Pay Commission Update

The hike in DA would impact the House Rent Allowance of central employees. As mentioned earlier, the HRA amounts depend on the type of city the employee resides in during their central employment.

According to the 7th Pay Commission, the HRA amount is categorized according to the type of cities (X, Y, and Z)based on the Census and other living factors depending on the place you live. 

As per the announcement, the HRA would jump to 30%, 20%, 10% from 27%, 18%, and 9% for X, Y, and Z types of cities. 

Cities categorization for X, Y, and Z for distributing HRA:

• X Category Cities: Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Delhi, and Chennai.
• Y: Category Cities: Lucknow, Gurgaon, Ranchi, Jammu, Visakhapatnam, Bareilly, Ajmer, Bhopal, Solapur, Nanded, Guntur, Chandigarh, Jabalpur, Amritsar, Surat, Rajkot, Kanpur, Jhansi, Ujjain, Indore, Guwahati, Vadodara, Noida, Jodhpur, Nashik, Saharanpur, Rourkela, Gwalior, Amravati, Vijayawada, Sangli, Ludhiana, Faridabad, Jamnagar, Gorakhpur, Kolhapur, Srinagar, Raipur, Aligarh, Bhubaneshwar, Cuttack, Ghaziabad, Firozabad, Agra, Aurangabad, Meerut, Varanasi, Patna, Jaipur, Bhiwadi, Kota, Allahabad, Rourkela, and Moradabad. 
• Z Category Cities:  All the remaining cities that do not come under the X and Y category cities will come under the Z- Category. 

Calculate your HRA Amount According to the City

Let’s assume the basic pay of the central employee working in any department is around Rs 30,000. So, your HRA allowance based on the X, Y, and Z category cities will be calculated in the following manner:

• For X- category: The HRA has increased to 30% from 27% as per the 7th Pay Commission updates. So, here’s the calculation based on the above assumption:

• 30% of ₹30,000 = ₹9,000
• 27% of ₹30,000 = ₹8100

• For Y-Category Cities employees: The HRA has hiked to 20% from 18% as per the 7th Pay Commission updates. Calculation of HRA based on the above assumption:

• 20% of ₹30,000 = ₹6000
• 18% of ₹30,000 = ₹5400

• For Z-Category Cities employees: The HRA has hiked to 10% from 9% as per the 7th Pay Commission updates. Calculation of HRA based on the above assumption:

• 10% of ₹30,000 = ₹3000
• 9% of ₹30,000 = ₹2700

When will you receive the updated HRA? 

Many central employees wonder whether the government will issue a separate notification for the HRA update, which leads them to confusion about the updated HRA payment deposit in their bank account. 

According to the reports, the updated 7th Pay Commission changes in allowances are applicable from 1 January 2024. It is believed the implementation of changes in allowance will be directly implemented. 

So, many of the central employees may have already received their updated HRA allowance in March 2024. You can check your salary slip to see whether you have received the updated HRA amount or not. 

The Government of India has hiked the DA/DR, HRA, Risk allowance, Child education allowance, and many others with the recent 7th Pay Commission updates. We hope you have gotten enough information on the HRA allowance and the amount you will get through the updated 7th Pay Commission.