ESIC Portal: Employer Login, IP Portal, e-Pehchan, Contribution and Benefits

The ESIC portal is the online system of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, the social-insurance body under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, reached through esic.gov.in and its service site portal.esic.gov.in. It has two front doors. Employers use the Employer Portal to register a unit, enrol workers and pay the monthly contribution, and workers, called insured persons (IPs), use the IP Portal to see the record ESIC holds on them and their family. Most visitors come to log in, generate an e-Pehchan card or pay a contribution challan.

The common mix-up is about who files what. A worker can’t register themselves under ESI: the employer registers the worker online, and the worker only signs up on the IP portal afterwards, using the insurance number the employer generated. The second confusion is legal. Most pages still say “ESI Act 1948”, but that Act was repealed when the Code on Social Security 2020 came into force on 21 November 2025, and ESI now runs under that Code.

ESIC portal at a glance

ESIC’s homepage counts 4.08 crore insured persons, about 15 crore beneficiaries once families are included, 169 ESI hospitals and 1,609 dispensaries. The portal is how that system is fed and used.

What the ESIC portal does and who it’s for

The portal splits by user. The homepage’s Employer Login and IP Login links lead to the two main systems, and the same strip carries Pay e-Challan, Employer Search and logins for Insurance Medical Practitioners and ESIC pensioners. Here is who does what:

Coverage follows the establishment, not the worker’s choice. Under section 1(4) of the Code, ESI applies to every establishment with ten or more persons other than a seasonal factory, and to any unit in a hazardous occupation notified by the Centre even if it employs one person. A smaller unit can opt in voluntarily under section 1(7). Small units sometimes assume their Udyam registration covers this; it doesn’t, because Udyam is a separate MSME record.

How an employer registers on the ESIC portal

Employer registration is entirely online, with no paper sent to ESIC. The Employer Login page now points new units to the Common Registration Link For ESIC / EPFO on the Shram Suvidha portal, which issues one Labour Identification Number (LIN) for the unit.

1. Open the ESIC homepage and click Employer Login, or go to the Shram Suvidha portal through the common registration link.
2. Click Sign Up and give the unit’s name, the principal employer’s name, the state, region and email address.
3. Log in with the credentials sent to your email and fill in the unit’s details: nature of business, PAN, address, bank account and employee details.
4. Choose the ESIC branch office and inspection division nearest to your unit, and submit.
5. Note the 17-digit code number that the system generates, and download the C-11 registration letter.

The C-11 is computer generated, needs no signature and is valid proof that the unit is registered. ESIC’s FAQ says a unit must register within 15 days of the scheme applying to it. Manpower suppliers, security agencies and contractors have one extra step: the registration manual requires six months’ advance contribution before the letter is issued.

Existing employers should check one thing. The login page warns that separate employer codes from ESIC, EPFO and other enforcement agencies are being replaced by the LIN, so verify your unit’s details on Shram Suvidha before the old codes stop working. The login field already reads Username/LIN.

How employees are registered and get the e-Pehchan card

The employer, not the worker, registers each insurable employee online before or on joining. The worker gives the employer their own and their family’s details and a family photograph.

On registration, the portal creates an insurance number and the employer prints a Temporary Identification Certificate (TIC). The TIC is valid for only 30 days. Once the worker’s Aadhaar is seeded against the insurance number, the TIC converts into the e-Pehchan, the permanent identity card that the worker and family use for treatment and cash benefits. The insurance number stays the same for life, through every change of job or city.

Seed Aadhaar quickly, for the worker and every family member. ESIC’s FAQ asks for it within a month, and a family whose Aadhaar isn’t linked can’t use the Pehchan card at a dispensary in another state. If a name or date of birth doesn’t match Aadhaar, correct it first through the Aadhaar update guide.

How to sign up and log in on the ESIC IP portal

The IP Portal is for insured persons. It opens in Hindi by default, with a language selector offering English and 11 other languages.

1. On esic.gov.in, click IP Login, then Sign Up.
2. Enter your Insurance Number, your Date of Birth and your Mobile Number, exactly as your employer registered them, and the captcha.
3. Enter the OTP sent to your registered mobile number and click Verify. The resend button activates after three minutes.
4. Set and confirm a new password, then log in with your IP number, password and captcha.

Sign-up fails if your date of birth or mobile number doesn’t match ESIC’s record. Only your employer can correct those details on the Employer Portal, so ask them before trying again.

Monthly contribution: rates, due date and how to pay

ESI is contributory. The employer files a monthly contribution online for every registered employee, entering the days for which wages were paid and the wages, and the portal works out the amount.

The rates ESIC publishes have applied since 1 July 2019: 0.75 percent of wages from the employee and 3.25 percent from the employer. An employee whose average daily wage is up to Rs 176 pays nothing, though the employer still pays its share. Payment is due within 15 days of the last day of the calendar month in which the contribution falls due, so April’s contribution is due by 15 May.

To pay, use Pay e-Challan on the homepage:

1. Enter the captcha and click Search to bring up your challans.
2. Select the Challan Number you want to pay and click Continue.
3. Pay through SBI or another bank’s internet banking on the gateway, and save the confirmation receipt.

If online payment fails, the homepage’s Unable to make Online Payment? link lets you print the challan. Late payment attracts interest and damages, so a payment failure on the last day is worth sorting out the same day.

What counts as wages has changed. The Code’s section 2(88) defines wages differently from the old Act, and an ESIC circular of 11 December 2025 expects many employees who were outside ESI to come back within coverage. ESIC tells field offices to look first at units where far more workers contribute to EPFO than to ESIC.

ESIC benefits for insured persons

ESIC’s benefits page lists six benefits, and medical care starts on the first day of insurable employment. Cash benefits depend on contributions paid in a contribution period:

Contributions and benefits run on fixed six-month cycles. Contributions paid from April to September support cash benefits from the following January to June, and those paid from October to March support benefits from July to December.

The Code also widened who counts as family. An ESIC circular of 28 November 2025 adds a widower and a grandparent to the definition of dependant, and the father-in-law and mother-in-law of a woman employee to the definition of family for medical benefit. The ESIC page for the Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana, its unemployment-relief scheme, still describes terms valid up to 30 June 2024, so ask your branch office before you claim.

Common errors on the ESIC portal and their fixes

These are the problems the portal’s manuals and FAQ address:

• IP sign-up rejected. Your insurance number, date of birth or mobile number doesn’t match ESIC’s record. Ask your employer to correct it on the Employer Portal.
• TIC expired. The 30-day TIC lapses without Aadhaar seeding. Seed Aadhaar to get the e-Pehchan.
• Employer code not accepted at login. Use your LIN, and check your unit’s details on Shram Suvidha.
• Payment debited but challan unpaid. Check the challan status before paying again, and keep the bank reference.
• Family can’t get treatment in another state. Their Aadhaar isn’t seeded on the Pehchan record; seed it through the employer.
• Accident at work. The employer must report it online in Form 12 within 24 hours.

Where to complain and get help

ESIC lists separate routes for portal problems and service complaints:

• Toll-free helpdesk: 1800-11-2526.
• Medical helpline: 1800-11-3839.
• IT helpdesk for employers and IPs: 011-27552237, itcare[at]esic[dot]gov[dot]in.
• Grievances: pg-hqrs[at]esic[dot]gov[dot]in, or CPGRAMS, where you choose ESIC under Ministry/Department and your regional office under Subordinate Department/Office.
• Headquarters: Panchdeep Bhawan, Comrade Indrajeet Gupta Marg, New Delhi 110002.

A delayed cash benefit is handled by your ESIC branch office, and a complaint about treatment by the hospital or dispensary and then the regional office. The IT helpdesk fixes login and portal faults, not benefit decisions.

What is changing at ESIC in 2026

The legal ground has moved. The four labour codes took effect on 21 November 2025, and ESI is now Chapter IV of the Code on Social Security 2020; the site’s analysis of the labour codes sets out what that consolidation means. Before the switch, ESIC ran SPREE, a one-time scheme from 1 July to 31 December 2025 under which newly registered employers were treated as covered from the date of registration or a date they declared, and new employees from their registration date.

The wage ceiling is the open question. ESIC still publishes Rs 21,000 a month, a figure in force since 1 January 2017, while EPFO’s ceiling was raised to Rs 25,000 from 17 September 2026, as the EPFO wage-ceiling note records. A proposal to lift ESIC’s ceiling to Rs 33,000 came from a non-government report, not a decision, as the ESIC reform debate note explains.

For an employer, the practical judgment is to apply the new wage definition, move logins to the LIN and pay by the 15th; for a worker, it is to get Aadhaar seeded for the whole family so the e-Pehchan works wherever you fall ill. Workers in gig and platform jobs, whom the Code brings into social security by separate schemes, are covered in the note on informal and gig worker social security.

Frequently Asked Questions

PDF