DA Calculator — DA, HRA and Arrears (7th CPC)

How to use it

1. Choose your pay level and your basic pay from the matrix, or switch to “Type” and enter it.
2. Pick the HRA class of your city (X, Y or Z) and where you draw Transport Allowance.
3. DA is filled in at the official 60%; change it to try another rate. The break-up shows DA, HRA, TA and gross pay.
4. Under “DA hike arrears”, tap a recent hike or type the old and new DA, then enter the months of arrears.

Current DA rate: 60%

Central Government employees under the 7th CPC get Dearness Allowance of 60% of basic pay from 1 January 2026, raised from 58% by the Department of Expenditure’s OM No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B) dated 22 April 2026, after the Cabinet approved it on 18 April 2026. DA is revised every January and July using the All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers.

The instalment due from 1 July 2026 had not been announced on 24 October 2026. When it is, type the new rate into the DA box.

How DA is calculated

DA = basic pay × DA rate. “Basic pay” means only the pay in your level of the pay matrix — not special pay or other elements. The amount is rounded to the rupee: 50 paise and above goes up to the next rupee, less is dropped. For the Level 7 entry pay of ₹44,900, DA at 60% is ₹26,940 a month.

HRA rates

HRA is 30%, 20% or 10% of basic pay in X, Y and Z cities, because DA is above 50%. The rates were 24/16/8% from July 2017, went to 27/18/9% when DA crossed 25% (July 2021) and to 30/20/10% when DA reached 50% (January 2024). The minimum HRA is ₹5,400 in X, ₹3,600 in Y and ₹1,800 in Z cities. X cities: Delhi, Greater Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune.

Transport Allowance

The 19 higher-TA cities are Hyderabad, Patna, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Surat, Bengaluru, Kochi, Kozhikode, Indore, Greater Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Jaipur, Chennai, Coimbatore, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Kolkata. Employees with disabilities get double TA (at least ₹2,250 + DA), and officers in Level 14 and above who are entitled to an official car may draw ₹15,750 + DA instead. TA is not paid to those given government transport. At 60% DA, a Level 7 employee in a higher-TA city gets ₹3,600 + ₹2,160 = ₹5,760.

DA arrears: a worked example

DA hikes are usually announced two to four months after the date they apply from, so the difference for the months in between is paid as arrears. For the Level 7 entry pay of ₹44,900, the 58% → 60% hike adds ₹898 of DA on basic pay and ₹72 of DA on TA — ₹970 a month. If three months (January to March) were paid as arrears, that is ₹2,910.

When a hike takes DA past 25% or 50%, HRA goes up too, and the calculator adds that HRA difference to the arrears — for example the January 2024 hike from 46% to 50%, which moved HRA from 27% to 30%.

What happens to DA after the 8th Pay Commission

When the 8th CPC’s pay matrix starts, the DA earned until then is expected to be merged into the new basic pay and DA to restart from zero, as it did on 1 January 2016 under the 7th CPC. The 8th CPC has not reported yet. To see what different fitment factors would mean for you, use the 8th Pay Commission salary calculator.

Official sources

• DoE OM No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B), 22 Apr 2026 — DA 58% → 60% from 1 Jan 2026
• DoE OM No. 1/4(i)/2025-E.II(B), 6 Oct 2025 — DA 55% → 58% from 1 Jul 2025
• DoE OM No. 1/1(1)/2025-E.II(B), 2 Apr 2025 — DA 53% → 55% from 1 Jan 2025
• DoE OM No. 1/5/2024-E.II(B), 21 Oct 2024 — DA 50% → 53% from 1 Jul 2024
• PIB, 7 Mar 2024 — Cabinet approves DA 46% → 50% from 1 Jan 2024
• DoE OM No. 2/5/2017-E.II(B), 7 Jul 2017 — House Rent Allowance under the 7th CPC
• DoE OM No. 2/4/2022-E.II B, 30 Dec 2022 — Compendium of HRA instructions
• DoE OM No. 21/5/2017-E.II(B), 7 Jul 2017 — Transport Allowance under the 7th CPC
• DoE OM No. 21/5/2017-E.II(B), 2 Aug 2017 — TA for Level 1–2 employees drawing ₹24,200 or more
• CCS (Revised Pay) Rules, 2016 — G.S.R. 721(E), Gazette of 25 Jul 2016 (pay matrix in the Schedule)