7th Pay Commission allowances: Know these important facts about HRA

7th Pay Commission allowances: Central government employees have a number of allowances that are attached to their salaries. They add up to a handsome amount and it is therefore, very important for them to know all about it. One of the bigger such allowances is the House Rent Allowance or HRA which is provided under the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) rules. Here are some very important facts about 7th Pay Commission allowance:    

The HRA entitlement depends upon the city that the central government employee resides in. The government has classified cities/towns in three categories namely X, Y and Z. For all central government employees residing in X category city, the rate of HRA per month as a percentage of basic salary will be 24 per cent. For employees living in Y and Z categories the rate of HRA per month as a percentage of basic salary will be 16 per cent and 8 per cent respectively.

In terms of cash, the HRA provided cannot be less than Rs 5400, Rs 3600 and Rs 1800 as per the 7th CPC rules.

The HRA amount for all employees living in either of the X, Y and Z categories will also be subject to revision if the Dearness Allowance (DA) crosses 25 per cent as per the rules laid down in a government notification. If DA exceeds 25 per cent, the new HRA will become 27 per cent, 18 per cent and 9 per cent. This will further be increased to 30 per cent , 20 per cent and 10 per cent of your DA crosses 50 per cent.

You can find the list of cities classified as X, Y and Z here.

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There are different pay scale levels for different levels of the central government employees. The term “Basic Pay” means the pay drawn in the prescribed pay levels in the Pay Matrix and it does not include Non Practicing Allowance (NPA), Military Service Pay (MSP) etc.