Dearness Relief Now 60 Percent for Pensioners from Jan 2026

If your basic pension is Rs 30,000, your Dearness Relief just rose from Rs 17,400 to Rs 18,000 a month, an extra Rs 600 every month from 1 January 2026, because central government Dearness Relief was raised from 58 percent to 60 percent. Your bank must pay the higher amount plus arrears without you applying for it.

Dearness Relief, or DR, is the inflation-linked top-up paid on your basic pension. The central government revised it to 60 percent of basic pension and family pension with effect from 1 January 2026. This page shows you the exact arithmetic, how arrears work, how to confirm your bank actually credited the increase, and what to do under RTI if it did not.

DR is always a percentage of your basic pension only, not of your existing total. At 60 percent, multiply your basic pension by 0.60 and add it back.

The formula is simple:

1. Take your basic pension figure from your Pension Payment Order or PPO.
2. Multiply it by 0.60 to get your DR.
3. Add the DR back to the basic pension to get your gross monthly pension.

If you draw an additional pension because you are 80 years or older, DR at 60 percent applies on that additional pension too. The same 60 percent applies to family pension, including the enhanced family pension rate.

The increase from 58 percent to 60 percent, with effect from 1 January 2026, was ordered by the Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare, DoPPW, per the DoPPW Dearness Relief order of April 2026. The official notice sits on the DoPPW Dearness Relief page. Indian Railways issued its own matching order, Railway Board RBE No. 36/2026, granting the same 60 percent with effect from 1 January 2026 to railway pensioners.

The revised DR covers:

• Central Government civil pensioners and family pensioners.
• Armed Forces pensioners and their families.
• Railway pensioners and their families, under Railway Board RBE No. 36/2026.
• All India Service pensioners.
• Provisional pensioners.
• Civilian pensioners paid out of Defence Service Estimates.

Critically, pension disbursing banks and Accountant General offices are directed to pay the revised DR without waiting for any further instructions. You do not have to submit a form or visit the branch. The credit should happen automatically.

Because the order is dated April 2026 but takes effect from 1 January 2026, you are owed the difference for every month between January and the month your bank actually starts paying 60 percent.

The arrear is the gap between old and new DR. On a Rs 30,000 basic pension:

• Old DR at 58 percent was Rs 17,400 a month.
• New DR at 60 percent is Rs 18,000 a month.
• The shortfall is Rs 600 a month.

If your bank pays the revised DR starting from the April 2026 pension and clears arrears for January, February and March, that is 3 months times Rs 600, or Rs 1,800 in one-time arrears for this example. Scale the Rs 600 figure to your own basic pension and count the months until your bank corrected the rate.

Arrears are normally paid as a single lump credit in the month the bank implements the order. Keep your bank statement for that month so you can see the arrears line separately from the regular pension.

Banks sometimes lag, or apply the old 58 percent rate by mistake. Verify in five minutes:

1. Note your basic pension from your PPO.
2. Multiply it by 0.60. That is what your DR line should show.
3. Open your latest pension credit in your passbook, statement or net banking.
4. Compare the actual DR credited against your 0.60 figure.
5. Confirm a separate arrears credit appeared for the January to March months.

If the DR shown is your basic times 0.58, or there is no arrears entry by mid-2026, your bank has under-paid and you should raise it formally.

You have a clear escalation ladder. Use it in order.

1. Step 1, write to the bank. Send a written request to your pension-paying branch and the bank's Centralised Pension Processing Centre, or CPPC, quoting the DoPPW order of April 2026 raising DR to 60 percent from 1 January 2026, and asking for the revised rate plus arrears.
2. Step 2, file a CPENGRAMS grievance. Lodge an online grievance on the central public grievance portal pgportal.gov.in against the bank and, if needed, the Central Pension Accounting Office, or CPAO. Quote your PPO number and the shortfall.
3. Step 3, use RTI. File an RTI application with the Public Information Officer of your pension-paying bank or the CPAO under RTI Act 2005, Section 6(1), asking for the date the 60 percent DR order was actioned on your PPO, the calculation sheet, and the reason for any delay. Banks are public authorities for pension disbursement purposes.
4. Step 4, first appeal. If you get no reply in 30 days under Section 7(1), or an evasive one, file a first appeal under Section 19(1) to the First Appellate Authority.

Draft the RTI fast with the AI RTI Drafter, check the bank or CPAO reply against the law with the PIO Reply Checker, build the escalation with the First Appeal Builder, and track the 30-day clock with the Timeline Tracker.

• Applying 60 percent to your existing total pension. DR is calculated on basic pension only, never on the current gross.
• Expecting to apply for it. No form is needed. The bank must pay it automatically.
• Forgetting arrears. The revised rate without the January to March arrears means you are still short. Ask specifically for arrears.
• Ignoring additional pension. If you are 80 plus, DR at 60 percent applies on the additional pension component too.
• Missing the life certificate. A lapsed Jeevan Pramaan life certificate can freeze your pension, so an unpaid DR may actually be a stopped pension, check both.

No. Pension disbursing banks and Accountant General offices are directed to pay the revised DR without waiting for further instructions. The credit should be automatic, including arrears from January 2026.

Yes. The 60 percent DR applies to basic pension and family pension alike, including the additional pension paid to pensioners aged 80 and above.

Find the monthly gap between old DR at 58 percent and new DR at 60 percent, which is 2 percent of your basic pension, then multiply by the number of months from January 2026 until your bank applied the new rate.

Write to your branch and the bank CPPC quoting the DoPPW order of April 2026, lodge a CPENGRAMS grievance, and file an RTI to the bank or CPAO Public Information Officer under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act 2005 asking when the order was applied to your PPO.

DR is part of your pension and is taxed in the same way as your pension income, subject to the usual exemptions and slabs that apply to your total income for the year.

• Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare, Dearness Relief page: doppw.gov.in/en/dearness-relief
• DoPPW Office Memorandum, Dearness Relief to central government pensioners and family pensioners at 60 percent with effect from 1 January 2026, dated April 2026.
• Railway Board order RBE No. 36/2026, granting 60 percent Dearness Relief with effect from 1 January 2026 to railway pensioners and family pensioners.
• RTI Act 2005, Sections 6(1), 7(1) and 19(1) for the information request and first appeal route.

• The RTI Playbook
• AI RTI Drafter
• First Appeal Builder
• PIO Reply Checker
• Timeline Tracker
• Jeevan Pramaan life certificate
• RTI for pension delay