Every contract worker on Code wages of ₹21,000 a month or less needs an ESIC insurance number within ten days of joining, registered under the contractor's employer code or, where the contractor has none, under the site's. The contractor does the registration; the principal employer pays both contributions first for every contractor's worker under section 31 of the Code on Social Security 2020, recovers from the contractor afterwards, and answers to the Corporation under section 42 if a worker is uninsured on the day of an accident. The ten days are the whole margin.
Who has to be insured
Any employee of an establishment with ten or more persons employed whose wages, on the Code definition, do not exceed ₹21,000 a month. The First Schedule to the Code on Social Security 2020 applies Chapter IV, the ESI chapter, at ten persons; section 2(26) limits "employee" for that chapter to wages up to the ceiling the Central Government notifies; and the Ministry's FAQ of 16 March 2026 confirms the ceiling in force is ₹21,000, applied to the section 2(88) wage definition from 21 November 2025 (Q12). The ceiling is tested on wages after the 50% add-back, not on gross, which is why the ESIC's circular of 11 December 2025 tells its field offices to expect previously exempt employees to come back inside cover and to look for units whose EPFO headcount is well above their ESIC headcount.
Three edges of the test matter for a contract workforce. A worker whose wages cross ₹21,000 during a contribution period stays covered, and contributions continue, until that period ends; the two periods are April to September and October to March [VERIFY: ESI (Central) Rules 1950, r.50 proviso, and continuity under the 2026 rules]. A worker on an average daily wage of ₹176 or less pays no employee share while the employer still pays the employer's 3.25%; those figures are on the ESIC's own contribution page. And coverage is per establishment, not per contractor: a contractor's worker on the site's floor is an employee of a covered establishment whether or not the contractor's own office would be covered on its own.
Who registers whom: codes, sub-codes and the immediate employer
The contractor registers its own workers under its own ESIC employer code; where it has none, they are registered under the principal employer's code with the contractor mapped as the immediate employer. The ESI scheme has always treated a contractor as an immediate employer, a person executing part of the establishment's work on its premises or under its supervision, and the Code carries the structure forward in section 31: the establishment is liable for both the employer's and the employee's contribution "in respect of every employee, whether directly employed by him or by or through a contractor" (s.31(1)), may recover the amount from the contractor by deduction from the bill or as a debt (s.31(6)), and the contractor must keep a register of the workers it supplies and produce it before its account is settled (s.31(7)). Under the 1950 Regulations that register is Form 6, and every immediate employer maintains one for the workers deployed to each principal employer [VERIFY: regulation number for Form 6].
| Situation | Registered under | Who files the monthly contribution | Who is liable to the Corporation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contractor has its own ESIC code covering the site's district | Contractor's code; the site is recorded as the principal employer | Contractor, within 15 days of month-end | Contractor as employer; the site under s.31(1) if the contractor fails, with recovery under s.31(6) |
| Contractor's code is registered elsewhere | A sub-code under the contractor's main code for the site's region, so the worker uses the local dispensary [VERIFY: sub-code practice by region] | Contractor | As above |
| Contractor has no ESIC code | The site's own code, with the contractor mapped as immediate employer | The site, recovering the amount from the contractor's bill | The site, directly |
| Worker moves from one site to another | The same insurance number; the new employer links it, no new number is created | Whoever is the employer for the month | Whoever is the employer for the month |
The principal employer's portal login has a view of the contractor's compliance for the workers mapped to it, which is the fastest check a site has that the contractor's challan covers the people on its gate register. In our own engagements this reconciliation, the ESIC challan headcount against the gate register, is the first line of the Management-stage evidence pack, and a challan covering fewer people than walked through the gate is the single most common finding when a site starts looking.
The ten-day window and the insurance number
The employer registers each new employee on the ESIC portal within ten days of the date of appointment, and the portal generates the insurance number at once. The requirement is in regulation 10B read with regulations 11 and 12 of the ESI (General) Regulations 1950, and the ESIC restated it in a notice of 3 December 2019 when it tightened the portal [VERIFY: regulation numbers and the notice]. Since then the system has allowed a registration dated more than ten days after appointment, but with a warning, and it issues a show-cause notice to the employer's registered email asking for a written justification with supporting records within fifteen days at the Regional or Sub-Regional Office [VERIFY: current portal behaviour, from secondary reports of ESIC guidance]. A contractor that registers late is therefore generating notices in its own name for every late starter, and a site that sees a contractor with a stack of them has learned something about its onboarding.
- One number for life. The insurance number stays with the worker across employers. A contract worker who has been insured before is linked, not re-registered; the contractor asks for the existing number at screening and only creates a new one where none exists. Two numbers for one worker is a benefit-claim problem later.
- Family particulars at registration. Medical benefit extends to the worker's family, and the dependants are recorded at registration. A registration done in a hurry without them leaves the worker with a number and the family without cover.
- The e-Pehchan card. The temporary identity certificate is generated at registration and the e-Pehchan card follows; the worker should have the printout, or the number on their phone, before the first shift. Aadhaar seeding of the insured person's record is required for the card and for benefits [VERIFY: ESIC's Aadhaar-seeding requirement and its date].
- Contribution starts from the first day of insurable employment. Employment-injury benefit needs no contribution history; the worker is covered from day one provided the registration exists. Sickness and other cash benefits depend on contributions paid in the preceding contribution period, which is the part late registration damages.
What breaks when it is late
Three things, in ascending order of cost: the worker loses benefit eligibility, the employer owes interest and damages, and the Corporation can recover the cost of an injury from the establishment. A worker registered late in a contribution period has fewer contribution days than the benefit rules require for sickness benefit in the corresponding benefit period, a loss that lands on the worker, not on either employer [VERIFY: qualifying contribution days for sickness benefit under the current regulations]. Contributions paid after the 15-day window carry simple interest at 12% a year and damages on a scale set by the regulations [VERIFY: regulation 31A and the damages scale].
The route question described elsewhere on this site, whether an injured contract worker is the Corporation's or the employer's, is answered by two facts fixed at onboarding: the wage against the ₹21,000 ceiling and the existence of the insurance number. A site that cannot produce both on the day of an accident has already lost the argument about which route applies.
The onboarding sequence for a contract deployment
Registration sits between Screening and Deployment, and it is done before the first shift, not within ten days of it. The ten days are the statutory limit, not the plan.
- At engagement: confirm whether the contractor has an ESIC code covering the site's district; if not, decide whether it takes a sub-code or the site registers under its own code with the contractor as immediate employer. Write the answer into the work order, with the s.31(6) recovery clause.
- At screening: collect the existing insurance number where the worker has one, the Aadhaar and bank details the portal needs, and the family particulars for dependants' cover. Test the offered wage against ₹21,000 on Code wages, not gross.
- Before the first shift: register the worker and hand over the temporary identity certificate. Record the insurance number on the per-worker file the site keeps for the pre-start verification described elsewhere on this site.
- In the first month: the contractor pays the contribution within 15 days of month-end and sends the challan; the site reconciles the challan headcount to the gate register and checks the mapped workers on its own portal view.
- At every settlement: the contractor produces the s.31(7) register before the bill is paid; a register that does not match the gate register holds the bill.
Whether a particular arrangement between a site and its contractor puts the registration and the filing on one side or the other, and what the site may recover, depends on the terms of the engagement and is a question for the site's own counsel.
Sources
- Code on Social Security, 2020 (Act 36 of 2020), Gazette text hosted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment — s.2(26) employee and wage ceiling, s.2(88) wages, s.31(1), (6) and (7) contributions for contractor employees and the contractor's register, s.42 Corporation's rights where the employer fails to register or pay, First Schedule (Chapter IV at ten persons). Opened and read for the sibling post.
- Ministry of Labour and Employment, Additional FAQs on Labour Codes (as on 16 March 2026) — Q12: ESI coverage continues at ₹21,000 a month under the s.2(88) wage definition from 21 November 2025. Opened and read for the sibling post.
- Employees' State Insurance Corporation, circular No. P-11/12/MinistryMoL&E/2024-RevII dated 11 December 2025 — new wage definition implemented for ESI coverage; previously exempt employees likely to come back under cover; EPFO versus ESIC headcount comparison. Opened and read for the sibling post.
- Employees' State Insurance Corporation, Contribution — 3.25% and 0.75% w.e.f. 1 July 2019, the ₹176 daily-wage exemption, the 15-day payment window and the two contribution periods. Opened and read for the sibling post.
- Employees' State Insurance (General) Regulations, 1950 — reg 10B (employer's registration), regs 11 and 12 (registration of employees within ten days), Form 6 (immediate employer's register), reg 31A (interest on delayed contributions) [VERIFY: regulation numbers from secondary summaries; the ESIC-hosted PDF of the Regulations was not opened this run]
- ESIC notice dated 3 December 2019 on registration of employees within ten days of appointment, and subsequent portal guidance on the show-cause notice for late registration [VERIFY: notice reference; portal behaviour from secondary reports]
- Employees' State Insurance (Central) Rules, 1950 — r.50 wage ceiling of ₹21,000 w.e.f. 1 January 2017 and the proviso continuing cover to the end of the contribution period [VERIFY: amendment notification and continuity under the 2026 rules under the Code]