ESIC urges employers to take up self-registration through its one-time initiative SPREE

In a month of rolling out a one-time special initiative to bring left-out establishments and workers under the Employees State Insurance-fold, the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), Chennai, has got registrations from 1,013 employers (from July 1 to August 1). Its flagship initiative – Scheme for Promotion of Registration of Employers and Employees (SPREE) – to encourage self-registration of unregistered employers and those who have not registered all eligible employees with ESIC – is open till December 31, 2025, according to officials.

A. Venu Gopal, Regional Director of ESIC, told reporters on Tuesday that SPREE was a one-time measure launched by the government to promote registration of employers and employees. Under the provisions of the ESI Act, if an employer is to be covered under ESI provisions, he/she has to register the unit within 15 days of the Act becoming applicable to them. Now, the difference (through SPREE) is the employer has a choice to register the unit and employees from the date of his/her choice.

“There are many employees and units who remain uncovered due to various reasons such as ignorance or lack of awareness,” he said. Under SPREE, no penalties are involved, and there is no demand for contribution from the retrospective date, and there is no fear of inspection later,” he said.

He said that Tamil Nadu ranks second after Maharashtra in the country in the number of insured persons in the country. It accounts for nearly 43.77 lakh insured persons.

Elaborating on SPREE, Satish Kumar, Deputy Director, ESIC, said, “This is a progressive step by ESIC towards inclusive and accessible social security aiming to regularise the workforce and to ensure that more workers gain access to essential health and social security benefits. This is to encourage self-registration of unregistered employers, and those who have not registered all eligible employees under ESI Act.”

He added that the scheme was aimed at expanding social security coverage under ESI Act without any contributions, penalties, legal action for the previous period. “It is designed to bring left-out establishments and workers into the ESI fold,” he said. Employees drawing wages up to Rs. 21,000 per month can be covered.

Employers – those with factories or establishments (shops, hotels and restaurants, cinema halls, road motor transport establishments, newspaper establishments, private medical institutions, educational institutions, and contract and casual employees of municipal corporations) with 10 or more persons in ESIC implemented areas – can benefit. Employees can avail medical care, cash benefits for sickness, maternity and injury or death during the course of employment and reservation of seats in ESIC medical/dental colleges.

SPREE offers a hassle-free registration process, he added. Online registration can be done by employers via ESIC portal, “Shram Suvidha” or Ministry of Corporate Affairs portal.