Employees' State Insurance Corporation (abbreviated as ESIC) is one of the two main statutory social security bodies under the ownership of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, the other being the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation. The fund is managed by the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) according to rules and regulations stipulated in the ESI Act 1948.
The promulgation of Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 envisaged an integrated, need based social insurance scheme,that would protect the interest of workers in contingencies such as sickness, maternity, temporary or permanent physical disablement, death due to employment injury resulting in loss of wages or earning capacity. The Act also guarantees reasonably good medical care to workers and their immediate dependents. Following the promulgation of the ESI Act the Central Govt. set up the ESI Corporation to administer the Scheme.
Applicability of the Act
It is applicable to all establishments having 10 or more workers & has been extended to other undertakings & newspaper establishments employing 20 or more persons.
ESI shall be deducted only for those employees whose wages are less than 21000/- per month, engaged directly or through contractors.
Contribution
Under ESI, employers shall submit ESI on behalf of Employee share of ESI and Company share of ESI, towards their employees and the employee share is deducted from their salary or wages. According to the PF Act, It is mandatory that the basic salary is minimum 55% of gross salary. Employees should contribute 1.75% on gross salary and employer contribution is 4.75 %. Employees in receipt of a daily average wage up to Rs.137/- are exempted from payment of contribution.
Employee State Insurance is an insurance and social security scheme for Indian workers. ESI Act 1948, which created ESI Corporation is an autonomous corporation under the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
ESI offers medical care or insurance benefits for the insured employees and their family members via its branches, dispensaries, and hospitals throughout India. Your employees get medical care and treatment for themselves and for their families.
For small business registration, ESI Scheme brings comprehensive employee security that protects your employees during sickness, injury, and disability.
Employees registered for ESI will get high-quality medical facilities like medical assistance, surgical support, obstetric treatment, free drugs, ambulance services, super-specialty consultation, etc. Also, registered patients are entitled to sick pay benefits.
All establishments employing 10 or more employees at any point of the year have to get registered under ESI Act, provided the salary payable to at least one employee is less than Rs 21,000. Once registered the firm is assigned a 17-digit unique identification code.
ESI Compliance
Business covered under ESI, must file an annual return reflecting changes (if any) through the previous year. Return of contributions should be filed once every six months attaching copies of all ESI contributions during the filing period.
ESI Norms
For employees with wages/salary of Rs 21000 or less, the employer contributes 4.75 percentages and the employee contributes 1.75 percentages, to the total premium from his/her wages/salary.
ESI Deadline
The employer must pay all ESI contributions to a bank account authorized by the ESI Corporation within 15 days of the last day of the month in which ESI payment is due.