How to Calculate DA in Salary – Formula, Rates & Examples

Take your basic pay, multiply it by the current rate, and there's your DA. For Central Government employees that rate is sitting at 60% right now, in effect since January 1, 2026. So if your basic pay is ₹50,000, you're looking at a DA of ₹30,000. 

Key Takeaways

• DA climbed from 58% to 60% of basic pay on January 1, 2026, a 2 percentage point jump the Union Cabinet approved.
• It's not fixed forever though. Twice a year, January 1 and July 1, it moves based on the All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers, which the Labour Bureau puts out.

At some point, if you're on a government payroll or just trying to figure out a confusing payslip, you'll need to sit down and work this out yourself. Central Government employee, pensioner, or just someone curious, this is for you. We'll walk through the formula, where the rate stands today, how often it shifts, and a real example with actual numbers attached.

What Is DA in Salary?

DA, short for Dearness Allowance, is basically a cut of your basic pay meant to soften the blow of inflation.

Here's the thing about basic pay: it's revised roughly every 10 years under a Pay Commission, though employees also receive annual increments and promotions in between that raise their basic pay. DA is what bridges the gap for inflation between these broader pay revisions. That gap is exactly what DA is meant to fill. Central Government employees get it, and pensioners get a version of it too, called Dearness Relief. Every time the rate changes, it's the Finance Ministry's Department of Expenditure that puts out the official word.

What Is the Formula to Calculate DA in Salary?

There's an actual formula running behind this number, built around the 12 month average of the AICPI-IW index, fixed under 7th Pay Commission rules.

The official DA formula, used by the government to set the DA rate, works like this:

DA% = [(Average AICPI-IW for the last 12 months × 2.88) minus 261.42] divided by 261.42, then multiplied by 100

Breaking that down a bit:

• AICPI-IW is the All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers, put out monthly by the Labour Bureau under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
• 2.88 is just a linking factor, converting the newer 2016 base index into the older 2001 series this formula still runs on.
• 261.42 goes back to 2015, the reference point used ever since DA got reset to zero when the 7th Pay Commission kicked in back in January 2016.

This formula is how the government arrives at the DA percentage every six months. Employees themselves don't need to run these numbers. Once the government announces the DA rate, the practical calculation for an employee is much simpler:

DA amount = Basic Pay × DA rate (%) / 100

So if the announced DA rate is, say, 53% and an employee's basic pay is ₹30,000, the DA works out to ₹15,900 a month.

What Is the Current DA Rate in Salary?

Sitting at 60% of basic pay since January 1, 2026, confirmed by an official Cabinet call.

The Cabinet pushed this up from 58%, a 2 point jump meant to keep pace with rising prices. Pensioners aren't left out either, they get that same 60% as Dearness Relief on their pension. And this percentage applies across the board, so while the number stays fixed, the actual rupee amount naturally grows with a higher basic pay.

How Do You Calculate DA in Salary for Different Basic Pay Levels?

Since DA scales with basic pay, someone earning more ends up with a bigger DA in rupee terms, even though the percentage never changes.

60%

15,300

35,400

60%

21,240

44,900

60%