Adding a new employee to ESI: the IP number

When a new employee must be added

ESI (Employees' State Insurance) gives your staff medical care, and pay when they can't work because of sickness, injury or maternity.

ESI applies to a business with 10 or more staff. It does not apply to seasonal factories. Not sure if your business is covered? Read Do you need to register for ESI?

If ESI covers your business, a new employee must be in ESI if their ESI wages are ₹21,000 a month or less (₹25,000 for a person with a disability).

ESI wages are not the full pay. ESI wages leave out some pay items, such as HRA (house rent allowance) and overtime. But ESI wages must be at least half the total pay. If they come to less, the difference is added to ESI wages.

So add a new employee when they join, or before, if the rules cover them. We'll check who must be in PF and ESI, so you add the right people. Check one employee yourself with our ESI eligibility checker.

What an IP number is

An IP (Insured Person) number is the employee's ESI number. Each employee in ESI needs one.

The IP number is separate from the UAN. The UAN is their PF account number. PF (Provident Fund, also called EPF) gives your staff savings and a pension. A new employee in both PF and ESI needs both numbers. Read New staff and UAN: the UMANG face scan.

An employee keeps the same IP number for life, even when they change jobs. Was your new employee in ESI at an old job? Then they don't need a new IP number. Call us before you add them. We tell you what to do next.

Adding them on the ESIC portal

ESIC (the government ESI office) runs the ESIC portal. A new employee is added to ESI on this portal, and the IP number is made there.

Working with us? We create IP numbers on the ESIC portal. You tell us when someone new joins. We tell you which details we need, and we add them.

Doing it yourself? You add the employee on the ESIC portal.

Not sure what your new employee needs to give you? Call us. We tell you which details we need.

Once they are in ESI, most employees pay 0.75% of their ESI wages. You pay 3.25%. Staff on very low daily pay don't pay their share, but you still pay 3.25%. ESI for each month must be paid by the 15th of the next month. Check the amounts with our ESI contribution calculator.

Does your employee ask what ESI gives them? Share our guide on ESI benefits for employees.

Family details and the e-Pehchan card

ESI also gives medical care to the employee's family. So when you add a new employee, ESIC asks for their family details, and the Aadhaar numbers of the employee and their family. The employee then gets an e-Pehchan card, their ESI identity card. They and their family use it to get treatment at ESI clinics and hospitals.

Not sure what to ask your new employee for? Call us.

Mistakes to avoid

• Waiting to add them. Add each new employee when they join, or before, if the rules cover them. This is mistake 7 in 7 common ESI mistakes, and how to fix them.
• Using the full pay. Decide who must be in ESI by their ESI wages, not their full pay.
• Not asking about an old job. Ask every new employee if they were in ESI before. If they were, call us before you add them.
• Forgetting pay changes. Did someone's ESI wages go above ₹21,000? Call us to check what to do.
• Forgetting staff who leave. Mark the date when staff leave.

Adding new staff is part of the monthly routine. Read the Monthly PF and ESI checklist: what to do by the 15th. Has your business just reached 10 staff? Read Your business just reached 10 or 20 staff: what to do next.

Rather not do this yourself? We file ESI for you every month. We get the payment slip (challan) ready in time, so you can pay by the 15th. Or send us the amount and we pay it. See our ESI monthly filing service.