Bihar Government Hikes DA to 55% for State Employees

In a major financial relief to government staff and pensioners, the Bihar government has sanctioned an increase in Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) with effect from January 1, 2025. The increase announcement was made on May 16, 2025. The announcement was made in the state cabinet meeting headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Employees and pensioners covered under the 7th Salary Commission will now receive 55% for DA and DR as per Additional Chief Secretary (Cabinet Secretariat), S Siddharth. The new rates will increase their DA and DR by 2 percent over the old rate. There are expected to be over 5 lakh employees and 6 lakh pensioners in the state who will benefit from this announcement.

The cabinet has also approved larger percentage increases for beneficiaries of earlier pay commissions:

6th paid commission payees will receive a 6 percentage point increase that will bring their DA and DR to 252%.

5th paid commission payees will see an 11 percentage point increase which, when added to their 455% DA and DR, will bring them to a staggering 466% DA and DR.

This DA correction demonstrates the real efforts the state is making to relieve government employees and retired workers from the impacts of inflation and more generally, keep up with the trends set by the federal government in terms of cost of living adjustments.

The increase not only supports government employees financially, it enables them to maintain purchasing power against rising prices. Experts suggest that this increase will contribute to economic stability in the region by improving disposable incomes and increasing consumption.

With this increase, Bihar now joins many other states that are actively attempting to enhance the welfare of their workforce before the start of a new fiscal year.