New Delhi: Talking about the Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners which is equivalent to the Dearness Allowance (DA) given to government employees currently it is 58%. However the term of the 7th Pay Commission is ending on December 31 2025 and the next increase in DR is due in January 2026. This raises the questions: What will happen to the increase in DR for pensioners? Will the DR become zero? Will it stop increasing or will the government continue to increase it according to the existing rules? Will the DR for pensioners continue to increase even after the end of the 7th Pay Commission?
Does The DR For Pensioners Continue To Increase?
An expert from the field explains that historically the DR for pensioners continues to increase even after the term of a Pay Commission ends. He says Just as the DA for employees increases after the term of a Pay Commission ends the DR for pensioners also increases. Therefore it will be increased twice a year until the recommendations of the 8th Pay Commission are implemented. In the past even when there was a delay in implementing the recommendations of the Pay Commission the DR increased along with the DA.
How Is The DR Increased Currently?
The government increases the DR for pensioners twice a year in January and July. However in most cases the government does not announce the increase in these two months. It announces it before festivals like Holi and Diwali. In such a situation pensioners receive arrears (backdated payment).

The DR is calculated based on the pensioners basic pension. For example if someones basic pension is Rs 25000 and the current DR rate is 58% then the pensioners total pension will be Rs 25000 + (58% of Rs 25000) = Rs 39500. Now if the government increases the DA by 2% to 60% in January 2026 the total pension of the same pensioner will become Rs 40000.
How Many Times Can The DA Be Increased Before The 8th Pay Commission?
If the recommendations of the 8th Pay Commission are to be implemented in November 2025 two years after the approval of its terms of reference then we can see the DA increasing four times which could be as follows: January 2026 July 2026 January 2027 and July 2027.

Under the 7th Pay Commission the minimum pension is Rs 9000 while the maximum pension is Rs 125000. Pensions under the 7th Pay Commission were revised based on a fitment factor of 2.57. The minimum pension increased from Rs 3500 under the 6th Pay Commission to Rs 9000 while the maximum pension increased from Rs 45000 under the 6th Pay Commission to Rs 125000.