Employees State Insurance, a scheme by Government of India is a social security tailored to address the health and socio-economic protection of the employee. Every company beholding manpower strength of 10 employees is mandated to register for ESI. ESI returns are to be filed in a half yearly basis.

Employee State Insurance (ESI) is a social security and insurance scheme in India for workers and employees. It is governed by Employee State Insurance Act, 1948. It provides medical facilities to workers and their dependents in contingencies like sickness, disablement, maternity, death due to accidents in workplace etc. It also provide cash benefit in certain contingencies and maternity benefit in case of women employees

ESI act envisages following six social security benefits-

• Medical benefit – Full medical care is provided to the person covered and his dependent from the day he joins the scheme and there is no ceiling on expenditure on the treatment. Medical care is also provided to retired and permanently disabled insured persons and their spouses on payment of a nominal premium.
• Sickness benefit – in the form of cash compensation during the period of sickness or long term diseases or undergoing sterilization on meeting prescribed norms.
• Maternity benefit – Maternity benefit for confinement/pregnancy is payable during the period of coverage.
• Disablement benefit – Ninety percent of the wages is payable if the person covered under the scheme if there is a disablement either temporary or permanent.
• Dependent benefit – Benefit is paid at the rate of Ninety percent of the wages to the dependants of the deceased person covered under the scheme in cases where death occurs due to injury or occupational hazards during the employment.
• Other benefits – other benefits like funeral expenses and confinement expenses.

Other than the above there are many other benefits who are covered under the scheme.

Applicability – 

ESI act is applicable to factories and establishments as defined in the act having 10 (20 in Maharashtra and Chandigarh) or more employees. Employees who are earning gross wages less then Rs. 21,000/- per month (Rs. 25,000/- per month in case of persons with disability) are covered under the ESI scheme.

Documents required for the registration:

• PAN of company/individual/LLP/partnership
• Email ID of the company/individual/LLP/partnership
• Bank details of company/individual/LLP/partnership
• Telephone Bill or water bill on the name of Individual/company/LLP/Partnership
• Shops and establishment certificate
• Mobile Number and Mail-ID of all the directors/individuals/partners
• Cancelled cheque
• Employee details along with their date of joining
• Partnership deed/LLP deed in case of Partnership firm/LLP
• Certificate of registration in case of company

Below mentioned are the steps in ESI registration:

• FORM-1 has to be filled and submitted with the requisite documents.
• Due Verification is done by the department and issues the 17 digit unique ID is provided to the communication details provided in the application.
• Any further modifications to the entity has to be updated to the department from time to time.

Once the registration is taken, ESI has to be paid monthly and returns have to be filed twice in a year with details such as wages and attendance of the employees.

Employer contribution – 3.25% of the Wages paid/payable in respect of the wage period.

Employee contribution – 0.75% of the Wages paid/payable in respect of the wage period.