Usually, yes. An ESI-insured contract worker who loses work can claim the Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana: 50% of wages for up to 90 days, once in a lifetime, after a year of insurable employment and 78 days of contributions. ESIC has extended it to 30 June 2027. A second scheme pays for up to two years, but only after a closure, a retrenchment or a disabling injury. Very few workers claim either.
Two schemes, with different triggers
ESIC runs two unemployment benefits, and they turn on different events. Its own benefits page, last reviewed on 9 October 2026, sets them out:
| Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana (ABVKY) | Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana (unemployment allowance) | |
|---|---|---|
| What triggers it | Losing employment, except through misconduct, a lockout, superannuation, or conviction for a false statement under the ESI law | Closure of the factory or establishment, retrenchment, or permanent invalidity of 40% or more from an injury not related to work |
| Who qualifies | At least 12 months in insurable employment immediately before, and contributions for at least 78 days in a completed contribution period within those 12 months | Insured for two years or more |
| What it pays | 50% of wages, for up to 90 days | 50% of wages for the first 12 months, then 25% for the next 12 |
| How often | Once in a lifetime | Up to 24 months in a lifetime |
| Anything else | Due for payment 30 days after the date of unemployment | Medical care for the worker and family while the allowance runs, and vocational training with fees and travel paid |
| Valid until | 30 June 2027, after the extension from 1 July 2026 (PIB, 27 July 2026) | In force since 1 April 2005, with no end date shown |
Which one applies when a contract ends
For most contract workers it is ABVKY. The exclusions are narrow, so a worker let go because a contractor's work order has ended will normally qualify, provided the contribution record is there. The two-year allowance is harder to reach, because it needs a closure or a retrenchment, and whether a contract ending counts as retrenchment is not straightforward.
The Industrial Relations Code 2020 excludes from "retrenchment" a termination that results from the non-renewal of a contract of employment on its expiry (s.2(zh)). Whether a particular contract worker's exit is a retrenchment or that excluded kind of ending depends on the terms of their engagement with the contractor, and it is a question for the contractor's own counsel, not something a branch office or this article can settle.
- A worker who moves straight to another contractor is not unemployed. If they keep working on the same ESIC insurance number, neither scheme applies, and their insured service simply continues.
- A worker above the wage ceiling was never insured. Above ₹21,000 a month in Code wages a worker sits outside ESIC (Ministry of Labour FAQ, 16 March 2026), and there is no relief to claim.
- The exit reason matters. Misconduct and superannuation exclude ABVKY outright, so a contractor that records every exit loosely as "absconded" or "terminated" can cost a worker the benefit.
What the worker needs to claim
An insurance number with a full contribution record behind it, and a claim filed after 30 days. ESIC takes claims online and pays by direct transfer to the worker's bank account (PIB, 27 July 2026). Its ABVKY page still describes a physical claim with an affidavit, an Aadhaar copy and bank details sent to the branch office, although ESIC announced in 2020 that the affidavit was no longer needed [VERIFY: the current claim documents with the branch office].
The contribution record is only as good as the contractor's remittances. Eligibility is checked against ESIC's own records, so a month the contractor failed to pay can leave a worker short of the 78 days or the year of insurable employment, even though they worked every day of it [VERIFY: how ESIC treats contribution days where the employer defaulted]. That is the same gap that shows up in a monthly audit as an ESIC challan covering fewer people than the gate register.
How few people claim it
Barely anyone. The Ministry of Labour gave these all-India figures for ABVKY in a written reply to the Lok Sabha:
| Year | Beneficiaries | Amount disbursed | Average a person |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | 688 | ₹1,01,87,728 | about ₹14,800 |
| 2024-25 | 1,978 | ₹2,72,08,672 | about ₹13,750 |
| 2025-26 | 1,406 | ₹1,52,20,915 | about ₹10,800 |
That is 4,072 people and about ₹5.26 crore across three years for the whole country (PIB, 27 July 2026; averages are our division). The likeliest explanation is that workers do not know the scheme exists, and nobody tells them at the point they leave.
What a site and a contractor can do
Make the exit paperwork do the work. The benefit belongs to the worker and the claim is theirs to make, but the facts it depends on are in the contractor's and the site's records.
- Give every leaver their ESIC insurance number and the last month their contribution was paid, on paper, with the final settlement.
- Confirm the ESIC challans are paid through the last wage month before the contractor's final bill is released, so the record the claim is checked against is complete.
- Record the reason for exit accurately. End of the work order is not misconduct, and the two should never share a code in the contractor's records.
- Tell the worker the scheme exists. One line in the exit letter about ABVKY, the 30-day wait and where to apply costs nothing.
How Velura Services helps
When a deployment ends, our payroll team gives every leaver their ESIC insurance number and the last month their contributions were paid, confirms the challans are complete through the final wage month, and records the reason for exit as it actually was. Workers who qualify are told about ABVKY and pointed to the branch office where they can claim.
Sources
- ESIC, Benefits: Unemployment allowance and Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana, last reviewed 9 October 2026. Eligibility, rates and duration of both schemes; ABVKY valid until 30 June 2027; relief due 30 days after unemployment. Opened and read.
- ESIC, Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana, last reviewed 4 April 2025. Pilot from 1 July 2018; rate raised from 25% to 50% with relaxed conditions; claim submission to the branch office. Opened and read.
- PIB, Ministry of Labour and Employment, written reply in the Lok Sabha on ABVKY, 27 July 2026, Release ID 2289944. Extension from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027; eligibility; exclusions for misconduct, lockout, superannuation and false statements; online claims and direct benefit transfer; beneficiaries and amounts for 2023-24 to 2025-26. Opened and read.
- PIB, "Claims through Affidavit Form no longer required now under ABVKY of ESIC", 2020. Seen in search results only [VERIFY: not opened].
- Industrial Relations Code, 2020 (Act 35 of 2020), Gazette of India Extraordinary. Section cited: s.2(zh) (retrenchment and its exclusions). Opened and read for earlier articles in this cluster.
- Ministry of Labour and Employment, Additional FAQs on Labour Codes (as on 16 March 2026). Q12: ESI coverage at ₹21,000 a month. Opened and read for earlier articles in this cluster.