1. Statutory Coverage & The ₹21,000 Wage Limit
The Employees' State Insurance Act 1948 is a self-financing social security scheme providing full medical protection and cash benefits to organized workers in India against sickness, maternity, disablement, and death due to employment injury.
Registration is mandatory for all non-seasonal factories and establishments employing 10 or more persons (or 20 in specific states) where employee gross monthly wages do not exceed ₹21,000 per month (₹25,000 for employees with disabilities).
2. Contribution Rates & Low-Wage Exemptions
Statutory ESI contribution rates are fixed as a percentage of gross wages:
- Employee Share: 0.75% of gross wages deducted from monthly salary.
- Employer Share: 3.25% of gross wages paid by the establishment.
- Total Deposit: 4.00% deposited monthly with the ESIC portal by the 15th of the following month.
Employees earning an average daily wage of up to ₹176 per day are completely exempt from employee contribution, though the employer must still pay their 3.25% share.
3. Pehchan (Identity) Card & E-Pehchan Generation
Upon registration on the ESIC portal, every worker is assigned a unique 10-digit Insurance Number (IP Number) that stays constant across employers throughout their career.
Employers can download an e-Pehchan Card online, which must be signed and stamped by the employer and employee with photographs of the insured person and family members to access cashless medical treatment at ESIC dispensaries and empaneled private hospitals.
4. Statutory Cash Benefits (Sickness, Disablement, Maternity)
ESIC provides statutory cash compensation during certified periods of inability to work:
- Sickness Benefit: 70% of average daily wages payable for up to 91 days in any continuous two-consecutive benefit periods, subject to contributing 78 days in the corresponding contribution period.
- Extended Sickness Benefit: 80% of daily wages for up to 2 years for 34 specified long-term diseases (e.g. tuberculosis, cancer, heart ailments).
- Temporary Disablement Benefit (TDB): 90% of daily wages from day one of employment injury as long as disability continues.
- Permanent Disablement Benefit (PDB): Monthly pension for life based on loss of earning capacity determined by the Medical Board.
5. Full Medical Care for Insured Persons & Families
From the first day of insurable employment, the insured worker and their family members are entitled to comprehensive, cashless primary, secondary, and super-specialty medical treatment across the network of ESIC Hospitals and empaneled tertiary care centers without any upper ceiling on medical expenditure.
6. Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana (Unemployment Cover)
Under the Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana (RGSKY), insured workers who lose employment due to factory closure, retrenchment, or permanent invalidity (after 3 years of insurable service) receive cash unemployment allowance of 50% of wages for the first 12 months and 25% for the next 12 months, along with continuing medical care for family members.