4% DA Hike: Gujarat govt increases 4% DA for employees; raises NPS contribution; revises LTC cash conversion calculation

4% DA Hike In Gujarat, 7th Pay Commission: In a step that would help raise its state employees and pensioners' wages significantly, the Gujarat government has announced a 4 per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR). Not just that, the government has also increased its contribution to the National Pension Scheme (NPS) for employees, and it has announced to calculate LTC cash conversion for 10 cumulated leaves on the basis of the revised pay scale of the 7th Pay Commission. 

The Gujarat government's official press release said, "With the latest DA hike, the dearness allowance of state government employees will now increase to 46 per cent as compared with 42 per cent earlier."

The statement further said that the DA had been hiked with effect from July 1, 2023, and employees would be given arrears for the past eight months. "Around 4.45 lakh state government employees and 4.63 lakh pensioners will benefit from the decision to hike DA," the release said.

The government said that the difference in DA for the 8 months from July 1, 2023, to February 2024, would be distributed in three instalments along with the salaries of the employees.

“The difference amount for the period between July 2023 and September 2023 will be paid with the March 2024 salary, while arrears for October to December 2023 will be disbursed with the April 2024 salary. Additionally, dearness allowance arrears for January and February 2024 will be included in the May 2024 salary for the employees,” it said.

NPS contribution raised

The Gujarat government has also increased its contribution to NPS for its employees from 10 per cent to 15 per cent. The state employees, however, will keep contributing 10 per cent as earlier.

LTC Cash Conversion 

The Gujarat government said that it would calculate employees' LTC cash conversion for 10 cumulated leaves on the revised pay scale of the 7th Pay Commission. Earlier, it was calculated based on the pay scale of the 6th Pay Commission.