House Rent Allowance (HRA) (Para 8.7.3-16)

 
Existing Provisions: HRA is paid @30, 20 and 10 percent for X class (50 Lakh & above), Y class (5 to 50 lakh) and Z class (below 5 lakh) cities respectively.

At present, in the case of those drawing either NPA or MSP or both, HRA is being paid as a percentage of BP+NPA or BP+MSP or BP+NPA+MSP respectively.

Recommendations of 7th CPC: It has been retained and rationalized. After applying a multiplication factor of 0.8, the rates have been revised downwards to 24 percent, 16 percent and 8 percent of the Basic Pay for X, Y and Z class cities, respectively.

The rate of HRA will be revised to 27 percent, 18 percent and 9 percent when DA crosses 50 percent, and further revised to 30 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent when DA crosses 100 percent. Add-ons like NPA, MSP, etc. should not be included while working out HRA.

Demands:
I. National Council (Staff Side), JCM: HRA may be retained @30%, 20% and 10% for X, Y and Z cities respectively as the Commission has taken unreliable statistics to determine HRA, which has been reduced by a multiplication factor of 0.8 to 24%, 16% and 8% for X, Y and Z cities respectively.

II. CAG, Civil Aviation, M/o Health & FW, M/o HRD – D/o of Higher Education, MEA, Coal, DAE, DRDO, Dep. Of Space, CVC: Retain the allowance at the existing rates.

III. M/o of Law & Justice- D/o Justice: Cities having population of more than 1 crore may be granted HRA @ 30%.

Analysis and Recommendations of the Committee: The Committee has the following observations on the recommendations of the 7th CPC on HRA:
(I) HRA rates have been revised downwards by applying the multiplication factor of 0.8 applied by the 7th CPC on all percentage- based allowances. This was done to neutralise the significant increase in the Basic Pay. All fixed allowances have only been given an inflation indexed increase by the 7th CPC. While the 7th CPC has not explicitly stated how the multiplication factor of 0.8 has been arrived at anywhere in the Report, it may be seen that factoring in the expected Dearness Allowance of 125% on 01.01. 2016 would have yielded a multiplication factor of 0.875 which may have been rounded off to 0.8.
(II) On the 7th CPC recommendation that the rate of HRA will be revised to 27%, 18% and 9% when DA crosses 50 percent and further revised to 30%, 20% & 10% when DA crosses 100%, the Committee is of the view that given the inflation rates since January 2016 and the RBI policy on inflation, the DA rates might not go beyond 50% in the next 10 years.
(III) While the rents for residential accommodation have not gone up significantly in the recent past and might also have fallen in some areas, the HRA at the rates recommended by the 7th CPC at the lower levels might not continue to be adequate as per the prevailing market rent.

In view of these observations, the Committee has deliberated upon the following three options which separately, or in combination, can be suggested by way of modifications to the 7th CPC recommendations:

Option (i): Having regard to submissions made before it stating that towards the later part of the ten year period, HRA compensation falls considerably short of requirement, the 7th CPC has recommended that the rate of HRA will be revised to 27 percent, 18 percent and 9 percent when DA crosses 50 percent, and further revised to 30 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent when DA crosses 100 percent. However, considering the present inflation rate, the rate of increase of the Dearness Allowance and future inflation projections, it appears unlikely that DA rates will reach 100 % in the ten year period. Taking this into consideration, the Committee considered that the timing of the upward revisions in HRA rates proposed by the 7th CPC may be advanced as under:

This would have no immediate financial implication and the 1st revision, as per the current trend of increase in DA, is expected to occur in July, 2018. Accordingly, additional annual financial implication in July, 2018 will be approximately Rs.1850 crore. The additional financial implication in the second, third and fourth revision will also be
approximately Rs.1850 crore per annum.

Option (ii): Instead of advancing the full restoration of HRA rates, the Committee considered splitting the revisions proposed by 7th CPC as under:

The financial implication would be similar as in Option (i) except that the timing of the revision would undergo a change.

Option (iii): It has been pointed out that at the recommended rates, HRA at the minimum level might not be sufficient. The minimum HRA calculated at the entry level of Level 1for X, Y and Z category cities at the rates recommended by the 7th CPC will be Rs.4320, Rs.2880 and Rs.1440 respectively. The Committee considered recommending that the HRA at the rates recommended by the 7th CPC may be subject to a floor which may be fixed at Rs.5400, Rs.3600 and Rs.1800 per month, calculated at 30%, 20% and 10% of the minimum pay for X, Y and Z category cities respectively. This will benefit employees in Levels 1, 2 and 3.

The additional financial implication is estimated to be Rs. 385.00 crore and around 7.70 lakh employees shall be benefited. After a detailed consideration of the above options, the Committee recommended that either only option (iii) or option (iii) in combination with option 

(ii) be accepted. A final decision in this regard may be taken by E-CoS.

Authority: www.doe.gov.in

Click to view the Report

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7th CPC House Rent Allowance

House Rent Allowance

HRA is currently paid @ 30% for X (population of 50 lakh & above), 20% for Y (5 to 50 lakh) and 10% for Z (below 5 lakh) category of cities. 7th CPC has recommended reduction in the existing rates to 24% for X, 16% for Y and 8% for Z category of cities.

As the HRA at the reduced rates may not be sufficient for employees falling in lower pay bracket, it has been decided that HRA shall not be less than ₹5400, ₹3600 and ₹1800 for X, Y and Z category of cities respectively. This floor rate has been calculated @ 30%, 20% and 10% of the minimum pay of ₹18000. This will benefit more than 7.5 lakh employees belonging to Levels 1 to 3.

7th CPC had also recommended that HRA rates will be revised upwards in two phases to 27%, 18% and 9% when DA crosses 50% and to 30%, 20% and 10% when DA crosses 100%. Keeping in view the current inflation trends, the Government has decided that these rates will be revised upwards when DA crosses 25% and 50% respectively. This will benefit all employees who do not reside in government accommodation and get HRA.

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Allowance Committee and JCM NC Standing Committee meetings postponed to 25.10.2016

GOVERNMENT INFORMED THAT MEETINGS OF THE ALLOWANCE COMMITTEE AND JCM NATIONAL COUNCIL STANDING COMMITTEE SCHEDULED TO BE HELD ON 13TH OCTOBER 2016 STANDS POSTPONED TO 25th OCTOBER 2016

Source: Confederation Blog

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7th CPC Allowances : Meeting with JCM Staff Side on 13.10.2016

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Payment of Allowances in Revised pay may satisfy the Government Staff

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House Rent Allowance (HRA) Calculations after implementation of 7^th CPC

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There are a large number of demands for paying HRA as a percentage of (Basic Pay + DA), instead of as a percentage of Basic Pay alone, as at present. Representations have also been received regarding enhancement of percentage rates and having only two classifications of Metros and Non-metros (instead of the present classification of X, Y and Z cities).

PBORs of uniformed forces have vehemently argued for doing away with the concept of Authorized Married Establishment and the requirement of a minimum age of 25 years for grant of Compensation in Lieu of Quarters (CILQ).

Analysis and Recommendations: Compensation towards the housing needs of Central Government employees is covered in three ways:

1. As a component of Basic Pay when it is initially fixed (based upon the Aykroyd formula)
2. As a constituent of Dearness Allowance [the AICPI(IW), on which the DA is currently based includes a weight of 15.27% towards housing], and
3. In the form of House Rent Allowance

In view of the fact that the DA calculation methodology that is being followed does include a certain weightage for housing, the demand to pay HRA as a percentage of Basic Pay + DA is not justified.

To arrive at the appropriate rates of HRA, the Commission used a two-fold approach: (i) It compared the rise in housing compensation with the cost of housing in major X, Y and Z category cities over the period 2006 to 2013, and (ii) It compared, de novo, the HRA after the rise in Basic Pay proposed with representative house rents in major X, Y and Z category cities.

For (i) above, the table of comparison (for a hypothetical employee whose Basic Pay was Rs.1000 in 2006) is given below:

As is clear from the above table, compensation for housing in 2013 was 1.79 times that in 2006 for Class X cities, 2.07 times for Class Y cities and 2.92 times for Class Z cities.

During the same period, the weighted (by population of cities) average rise31 in housing index for Class X cities was 1.69 times, for thirty most populated Class Y cities it was 2.10 times, and for twenty-five most populated Class Z cities it was also 2.10 times.

Thus, it can be safely concluded that the rise in housing compensation has largely kept pace with the rise in rental values in all categories of cities.

However, if a zero-based comparison of HRA with house rents is carried out the Commission observed that today there are websites that give a good idea of the prevalent house rents in various cities. From the information available on the websites, it was observed that with the increase in Basic Pay proposed (and consequent rise in HRA with the rationalized percentages), most of the employees will be able to afford a rented house as per their entitlement.

The Commission also took note of the link between increase in HRA and increase in house rent. There was a sharp rise in the index from the first half of 2009, immediately following VI CPC recommendations. The All India House Rent Index32 chart given below demonstrates this:

Considering all these factors, and in line with our general policy of rationalizing the percentage based allowances by a factor of 0.8, the Commission recommends that HRA should be rationalized to 24 percent, 16 percent and 8 percent of the Basic Pay for Class X, Y and Z cities respectively.

However, the Commission also recognizes that with the current formulation, once the new pay levels are implemented, the compensation towards HRA will remain unchanged until such time as the pay and allowances are next revised. Going by the historical trend this event is likely to be a decade away. Some representations have been received stating that towards the later part of the ten year period the HRA compensation falls considerably short of the requirement. Having regard to this, the Commission also  recommends that the rate of HRA will be revised to 27 percent, 18 percent and 9 percent when DA crosses 50 percent, and further revised to 30 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent when DA crosses 100 percent.

Currently, in the case of those drawing either NPA or MSP or both, HRA is being paid as a percentage of Basic Pay+NPA or Basic Pay+MSP or Basic Pay+NPA+MSP respectively. HRA is a compensation for expenses in connection with the rent of the residential accommodation to be hired/leased by the employee and is graded based on the level of the employee, and therefore should be calculated as a percentage of Basic Pay only. Add-ons like NPA, MSP, etc. should not be included while working out HRA.

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The 7th Central Pay Commission has been recommended to reduce the percentage of House Rent Allowance for all categories of Central Government employees rationalized to 24 percent, 16 percent and 8 percent of the Basic Pay for Class X, Y and Z cities respectively.

The Commission also recommends that the rate of HRA will be revised to 27 percent, 18 percent and 9 percent when DA crosses 50 percent, and further revised to 30 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent when DA crosses 100 percent.

7th CPC HRA: HRA is the most important factor of allowance issuing to existing Central Government employees, it is given for compensate to live in rented house. The HRA rules are allowed for getting allowance even if he/she living in own house.

A major changes had been made in 6th CPC on HRA rules. The percentages were prescribed on basic pay according to the cities in India. The cities are classified as X, Y and Z and the rates of percentage respect of the cities are 30%, 20% and 10% on basic pay (Grade pay including).

Central Government employees are expecting changes in the rate of percentage according to cities.

NC JCM STAFF SIDE SUGGESTION ON HOUSE RENT ALLOWANCE

National Council JCM Staff Side given suggestion on House Rent Allowance for Central Government employees as under…

House Rent allowance. 

 
The present scheme of HRA is based on the recommendation of the 6th CPC, which is as follows:

We reproduce hereunder the recommendation made by the third Central Pay Commission in the matter of grant of house rent allowance. (Para 29 Part I. Vol. IV.Chapter 56), which would be the best if implemented even today. While we find it difficult to accept the kind of parity suggested above, we are aware of the acute problem caused by the lack of adequate government housing and by the inadequate government housing and by the inadequacy of the existing rates of house rent allowance and recommend as follows:-

Government should take houses on long lease and make residential accommodation available to its employees on payment of 10% of their pay.

(ii) Government should lay down appropriate house rent allowance rates in different cities and towns based not on population criteria, but on an actual assessment of the prevailing levels of rent in different cities and towns. Alternatively, certain notional rents for different types of accommodation meant for officers and personnel of specified pay groups should be laid down for particular cities after studying the actual conditions in that city. The difference between the actual rent paid and 10% of pay should be reimbursed subject to a maximum of the difference between the notional rent and 10% of the pay. The existing norms in regard to entitlement of accommodation, size of rooms etc. could, if necessary, be reduced depending on the housing situation and the norms usually adopted by different income groups in renting accommodation in the various cities. Such notional rents should, to start with, be applied to all stations falling under the description of classified cities for purposes of House Rent Allowance, Additions could also be made to the list later on by including other cities deserving similar treatment.

The rates prescribed by the 6th CPC, though an improvement over its predecessor Commission, it has not improved the situation. The real estate value throughout the country has skyrocketed and owning an accommodation within the city/Municipal limit has become impossible for Government employees. There is not a single town/village where the real estate boom has remained unaffected. The phenomenal increase in the value of land has naturally impacted the rent, one is to pay on leasing house/flat. The house rent allowance does not bear even a small percentage of the rent. The 7th CPC may recommend to the Government to act upon the suggestion made by the 3rd CPC without any further delay. Pending action on the part of the Government, the Commission may suggest the following rates of House Rent allowance;

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