Gujarat hikes DA of govt employees by 4%, also raises its NPS share

Just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Gujarat government on Thursday announced a 4 per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA) for its employees and pensioners.

With this hike, the DA of Gujarat government employees, which was 42 per cent earlier, will now be 46 per cent, a state government resolution (GR) said.

The DA has been hiked with effect from July 1, 2023, and employees will be given arrears for the last eight months, it said. Around 4.45 lakh state government employees and 4.63 lakh pensioners will benefit from the decision to hike DA, an official release said.

The government has also decided to increase its own contribution in the National Pension System (NPS) from 10 per cent to 14 per cent, while state employees will have to pay 10 per cent, the release said.

The Gujarat government employees have been demanding restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) instead of NPS. Under the OPS, retired government employees received 50 per cent of their last drawn salary plus DA as pension.