India Post clears 60-day Diwali-season bonus for staff; payout expected before festival

Who gets the 60-day payout

The PLB is meant for regular employees in the Department of Posts, including Multi-Tasking Staff (MTS), Group C employees and non-gazetted Group B employees. The same 60-day formula also covers Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) who are regularly engaged, though their payment is treated as an ex-gratia bonus rather than PLB.

The order also extends to full-time casual labourers and casual employees who have been granted temporary status, subject to the conditions laid down for that category.

The sanctioned period is the accounting year from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. Employees who did not serve the entire year are generally paid on a proportionate basis, depending on eligibility conditions set out in the department’s rules.

While the announcement is being widely described as a Diwali bonus, it is structured as a productivity-linked payment tied to the accounting year, and is released ahead of the festival as part of the government’s annual cycle of such payouts.

How the amount is calculated

The department’s calculation method follows a standard PLB formula: average emoluments are multiplied by the number of days of bonus and then divided by 30.4, the average number of days in a month.

For regular staff, the computation is subject to a monthly ceiling of ₹7,000 for the purpose of calculating the bonus. Using that cap and the 60-day entitlement, the maximum payout for those eligible for the full year works out to roughly ₹14,000.

For Gramin Dak Sevaks, the ex-gratia payment is worked out on the same 60-day basis. For full-time and temporary status casual labourers, the order provides for an ad-hoc bonus, calculated on notional monthly wages of ₹1,200.

The department has indicated that payments are expected to reach employees before Diwali, a timing that matters for households planning festival spending and travel, and for workers who see the annual PLB as a predictable supplement to regular earnings.

The announcement also lands in a broader run of pre-festival bonus decisions across government-linked organisations this month. Separately, the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation has sanctioned a 60-day productivity-linked bonus for eligible Group C staff for 2025-26, subject to a maximum of ₹13,816, and asked its offices to complete payments within five working days of issuing its memorandum.

For postal employees, the immediate next step is administrative: circles and units will process eligibility and calculate individual entitlements under the prescribed ceiling and category rules, after which amounts will be credited to staff accounts. The department’s direction that the payment should come before Diwali sets a clear deadline for the internal exercise.