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Licenses & registrations
We check your establishment's coverage status and whether an ESIC number already exists dormant from incorporation, then get your ESIC registration filed and the registration number confirmed active, so you're compliant within the 15-day window once you cross 10 employees.
ESIC registration starts with two checks most guides skip: whether your company already has a dormant ESIC number from incorporation, and whether your establishment's specific location is one we need to confirm coverage for. We handle both, then file within the 15-day window once you cross 10 employees.
Every non-seasonal factory or establishment employing 10 or more people has to register under the ESI Act, 1948, now Chapter IV of the Code on Social Security, 2020. For an establishment in a Central Government-notified hazardous or life-threatening occupation, that 10-employee minimum drops away entirely: even one such employee triggers coverage.
Whether ESIC still requires a district or area to be separately notified before it applies there, on top of the 10-employee count, is a genuinely unsettled question following the Code's changes. Sources disagree, and we haven't been able to confirm either position against the Code's own text. What we do regardless of how that question eventually settles is check your establishment's specific coverage status against ESIC's current information before filing, rather than assuming it either way.
Contribution is 3.25% of gross wages from the employer and 0.75% from the employee, a combined 4%, unchanged since a July 2019 rate cut from the earlier 4.75%/1.75% split.
The wage ceiling for ESI coverage is Rs 21,000/month, or Rs 25,000/month for persons with disability, in force since 1 January 2017.
Unlike EPF, whose Rs 15,000 wage ceiling was freshly reconfirmed in a 2026 Code-era notification, we haven't found an equivalent Chapter IV notification confirming ESI's Rs 21,000 figure under the new Code. It still rests on continuance from its 2017 setting as of this writing.
The 10-employee threshold works the same way EPF's headcount count does: permanent, contractual, part-time, and casual workers all count. The one sharp exception is the hazardous-occupation rule. If your establishment's occupation is on the Central Government's notified hazardous or life-threatening list, the 10-employee minimum is removed entirely and even a single such employee must be covered.
We're not able to state a settled position on whether ESIC coverage still requires your specific district to be separately notified before it applies, or whether the Code on Social Security removed that precondition. Both positions are argued by credible sources, and the primary text wasn't fetchable to confirm either way. We check your establishment's actual coverage status as part of this engagement rather than guessing at the legal question either way.
Since 15/23 February 2020, the MCA's SPICe+ web form and its AGILE-PRO integration issue an ESIC registration number automatically to every newly incorporated company, regardless of employee count, the same way it issues an EPFO number. That number sits dormant until you actually cross the threshold. We check for it before filing anything new. LLPs, proprietorships, and partnerships aren't covered by this auto-issuance and go straight to a fresh Shram Suvidha filing.
| Who pays | Rate | Base |
|---|---|---|
| Employer | 3.25% | Gross wages |
| Employee | 0.75% | Gross wages |
Coverage applies to employees earning up to Rs 21,000/month, or Rs 25,000/month for persons with disability. An employee above that ceiling sits outside mandatory ESI coverage.
Late contributions carry interest at 12% per annum from the first day of default, under Regulation 31 of the ESI (General) Regulations, 1950. Damages under Section 85B of the ESI Act are reported at a 5% to 25% tiered rate depending on how late, capped at 25%. That's a different structure from EPF's, whose equivalent penalty became an uncapped flat 1% per month after a June 2024 amendment. The two schemes' penalty mechanics don't match each other, even though generic content often treats them as identical.
Step 1 of 4
Coverage and existing number checked
We confirm your establishment's coverage status for its specific address, and whether a dormant ESIC number already exists from SPICe+ incorporation.
Common mistakes founders make
If your company was incorporated through SPICe+ since February 2020, you almost certainly do, issued automatically at incorporation regardless of employee count. We check this before filing anything new.
That's genuinely unsettled right now. Whether the Code on Social Security preserved an area-notification precondition or made coverage apply uniformly at the 10-employee mark is argued both ways by credible sources, and we haven't been able to confirm either position against the Code's own text. We check your establishment's actual coverage status as part of registering you, so you get a straight answer for your specific address regardless of how that broader question eventually resolves.
The 10-employee minimum doesn't apply. Even a single employee in a Central Government-notified hazardous or life-threatening occupation triggers coverage.
Rs 21,000/month, or Rs 25,000/month for persons with disability. An employee earning above that sits outside mandatory ESI coverage.
12% per annum interest from the first day of default, plus damages reported at a 5-25% tiered rate depending on delay, capped at 25%. This runs differently from EPF's own penalty structure, so don't assume the two schemes' figures are interchangeable.
3.25% of gross wages from the employer and 0.75% from the employee, a combined 4%, on wages up to the coverage ceiling.
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