Bank employees in India will see a 15.67 per cent increment in dearness allowance (DA) for the May to July period. This was notified by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) on 10 June.
It is pertinent to mention here that the IBA and the bank unions had already agreed in March on a 17 per cent annual wage hike, which resulted in additional financial pressure for public-sector banks of about Rs 8,284 crore.
As per IBA, the confirmed All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (Base 2016= 100) for the quarter ended March 2024 was 138.9 for January, 139.2 for February and 138.8 for March 2024.
The average consumer price index or CPI of the above is 139, and therefore, the number of points over 123.03 is 15.97 (139-123.03). The last average quarterly CPI was 138.76. Therefore, there is an increase of 0.24 points for May, June and July 2024.”
As per the 9th Joint Note on Officers’ Wage Revision dated 8 March, 2024, dearness relief on a pension of the bank employees calculated based on the above-mentioned formula will be paid half-yearly for a rise or fall over 123.03 points in the quarterly average of the All-India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers Base 2016=100. Additionally, the note also announced the construction of a new pay scale for the employees of public-sector banks after merging DA corresponding to 8088 points and additional load. “With the applicable load of 3.22 per cent, the effective load on the basic pay post-merger of dearness allowance at 30.38 per cent is 4.20 per cent,” according to the joint note. The conversion factor after the merger of DA has been set at 0.0549.
As per the revised rules, there will be additional benefits as the DA “shall be payable as one per cent of ‘pay’ per percentage point of index. The DA in the above manner shall be paid for every variation of rise or fall over 123.03 points in the quarterly average of the All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers Base 2016=100. 0.01% change in DA on ‘pay’ for change in every second decimal place of CPI 2016 over 123.03 points.”
