8th Pay Commission: Will pensioners get DA hikes under new Finance Act 2025? Govt clarifies

8th Pay Commission: The Union Cabinet-approved 8th Pay Commission is set to take effect from 1 January 2026 as central govenment employees focus on salary increases, pension hikes, fitment factor, and dearness allowance (DA) hikes among other things.

The central government sets up a pay commission once every ten years to evaluate the employee salaries and retirement pensions. However, since the government has set up its 8th Pay Commission in 2025, people have raised questions about their pensions, payments and DA.

In a post on X, the government addressed a message circulating on social media that claimed pensioners will stop getting DA hikes under the new Finance Act 2025.

On Saturday, 13 December 2025, the central government issued a clarification that a message has been circulating on the social media messaging platform, WhatsApp, which alleged that the central government has withdrawn post-retirement benefits for pensioners under the Finance Act 2025.

“A message circulating on #WhatsApp claims that the Central Government has withdrawn post-retirement benefits like DA hikes and Pay Commission revisions for retired employees under the Finance Act 2025,” according to a recent official PIB Fact Check post.

Will pensioners stop getting DA hikes?

Debunking the WhatsApp message, the central government said that the claim is a “Fake” and the post-retirement benefits, like DA hikes and Pay Commission revisions for retired employees, will only be stopped on the grounds of if the employee is “dismissed for misconduct.”

“Rule 37 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 has been amended to state that if an absorbed PSU employee is dismissed for misconduct, their retirement benefits will be forfeited,” said the central government.

The government also cited its official notification on the matter released back in May 2025, which specified that the retirement benefits of the government employees will only be stopped if there is a dismissal or removal on the grounds of misconduct.

People using social media should await government confirmation on a development, and refrain from believing similar viral social media or similar “Fake” messages for the matter of public interest.

Why is DA hike important?

Dearness allowance (DA) is a component of a salary structure which a government employee gets, which is aimed at adjusting the cost-of-living. The revision of the DA is an effort to offset inflation and maintain the purchasing power of customers in the Indian economy.

Mint reported earlier how the DA rates are usually reviewed and updated twice every year.

Every government employee received a salary package including basic pay, dearness allowance, house rent allowance (HRA), transport allowance (TA), other allowances, along with a pension component.

On 1 October 2025, the Union Cabinet approved a 3% increase in the dearness allowance for all central government employees ahead of this year's festive season, and the hike in the salary component was based on the recommendations made by the 7th Central Pay Commission.

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Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or experts, and not of Mint. This article has been updated with the latest information on 30 December 2025.