ESIC Insurance Number (IP Number)

The ESIC Insurance Number, formally called the Insured Person (IP) Number, is the unique 10-digit identifier issued by the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) to every employee enrolled under the ESI Act, 1948. Functioning as the equivalent of a member ID for the ESI scheme, the IP Number ties an insured person to their contribution history, medical entitlements, dispensary allocation and dependent records. Once issued, it is portable across employers — the same IP follows the worker for life, just as the UAN does on the PF side.

How IP Number Is Generated

The IP Number is generated by the employer at the time of onboarding through the ESIC employer portal (esic.gov.in):

1. Employer logs into the ESIC portal with the establishment’s 17-digit ESIC code
2. New employee details — name, date of birth, address, family particulars, dependents, bank account, Aadhaar, nominee — are entered
3. The system instantly generates a 10-digit IP Number for the employee
4. A temporary identity certificate (TIC) and printable IP Insurance Number slip are issued for immediate hospital use
5. ESIC then dispatches the Pehchan Card (biometric ESIC card) to the employee’s address within a few weeks

The IP Number is generated even before the first contribution is paid — it is a registration artifact, not a contribution receipt. Failure to register a covered employee is a compliance breach in itself and exposes the employer to penalties even if contributions are otherwise current.

Coverage Threshold

ESI coverage is tied to a wage threshold:

Category	Monthly gross wage threshold
General employees	₹21,000 or below
Persons with disability (PwD)	₹25,000 or below

Coverage is determined at the date of joining and is reassessed only at the start of each contribution period. An employee earning ₹20,000 at the start of a period remains in ESI through that period even if they get a raise to ₹25,000 mid-period (see “Continued Coverage” below). Coverage applies only in establishments with 10 or more employees (20 in some state-specific notifications).

Contributions

ESI is funded jointly by employer and employee, with the employer paying the larger share:

Contributor	Rate (% of gross wages)
Employee	0.75%
Employer	3.25%
Total	4.00%

Worked example for an employee with ₹18,000 gross monthly wage:

Component	Monthly	Annual
Employee contribution (0.75%)	₹135	₹1,620
Employer contribution (3.25%)	₹585	₹7,020
Total	₹720	₹8,640

Contributions are due monthly through the ESIC portal challan, payable by the 15th of the following month. Late payment attracts interest at 12% per annum.

Benefits Tied to IP

The IP Number unlocks the full ESI benefit basket — both medical and cash:

Medical benefits:

• Outpatient consultations, diagnostics and pharmacy at ESIC dispensaries and panel clinics
• Inpatient treatment and surgery at ESIC hospitals
• Super-specialty treatment (cardiac, oncology, neurosurgery, dialysis, joint replacement) at empanelled tie-up hospitals — for the IP and dependents
• No financial cap on treatment cost; no waiting period for accidents and emergencies
• Dependent coverage for spouse, dependent parents, and children up to age 25 (or until earning capacity)

Cash benefits:

• Sickness benefit: 70% of average daily wages for up to 91 days in two consecutive contribution periods
• Extended sickness benefit: Up to 2 years for specified long-term diseases (TB, malignancies, etc.)
• Maternity benefit: Full wages for 26 weeks (extendable on medical grounds)
• Disablement benefit: 90% of wages — temporary during recovery, lifetime for permanent disablement
• Dependants’ benefit: 90% of wages to dependants on death due to employment injury
• Funeral expenses: ₹15,000 lump sum

These are linked exclusively to the IP Number — every claim form requires it as the primary identifier.

Pehchan Card

The Pehchan Card is the physical (or digital) ESIC identity card issued to every IP, capturing biometrics for the IP and family members. It is required to access the ESIC hospital and dispensary network for non-emergency care. Two cards are typically issued per family — one carried by the IP, one by the family — although digital Pehchan and the e-Pehchan facility are progressively making the physical card optional.

Common operational issues with Pehchan:

• Card delay (often 4–8 weeks) — TIC and IP slip cover the gap
• Biometric mismatch on later visits, especially when family is added later
• Lost cards — duplicate issuance via online application

Continued Coverage on Salary Increase

A defining feature of ESI is that once an employee is covered at the start of a contribution period, they remain covered through that period even if their wages rise above the ₹21,000 threshold mid-period.

Contribution period	Salary at start	Salary mid-period	ESI coverage
Apr–Sep	₹20,000	Raised to ₹25,000 in July	Continues until 30 September
Oct–Mar	₹25,000 (post-raise)	—	Drops out from 1 October

This rule prevents abrupt mid-period loss of medical coverage and preserves the employee’s right to claim benefits during the matched benefit period.

Changing Employers

When an insured person moves to a new employer:

• The same IP Number continues — there is no need to issue a fresh IP. Re-using the existing IP is mandatory.
• The new employer adds the IP to their establishment’s roster on the ESIC portal at the time of onboarding.
• Aadhaar-based seeding ensures the IP follows the person across employers.
• The accumulated contribution history transfers seamlessly, preserving eligibility for sickness, maternity and other benefits that depend on continuous contribution periods.

Issuing a new IP for the same person — sometimes done by employers unfamiliar with the system — fragments the contribution history and is treated as a compliance error. See the PF and ESIC India guide for the full registration playbook.

Common Issues

The recurring operational frictions on the ESIC side:

• Delayed Pehchan card: Especially in metro circles. Workaround: issue the e-Pehchan slip and keep the TIC on file.
• Dispensary not assigned: New IPs sometimes show no allocated dispensary — requires manual update on the ESIC portal under “IP-Dispensary Mapping.”
• Family member addition rejected: Aadhaar mismatch is the typical cause. The IP must update family details with matching Aadhaar before re-submission.
• Employee earning above ₹21,000 wrongly enrolled: Triggers excess contribution and forced refund process.
• Establishment-level under-coverage: Employer registers some employees and not others, which is detected during ESIC inspections. The compliance calendar lists every monthly deadline that helps avoid this.

How Omnivoo Handles ESIC IP Numbers

Omnivoo registers every eligible new hire with ESIC during onboarding, generates the IP Number through the ESIC employer portal, distributes the IP slip and TIC to the employee, and tracks Pehchan card dispatch through to receipt. The platform flags employees crossing the ₹21,000 threshold at the right contribution-period boundary, applies the continued-coverage rule correctly, and migrates the existing IP when an employee joins from another covered employer instead of issuing a duplicate. Foreign employers see ESIC as a single benefit line item — the platform absorbs the registration, contribution, and member-service workflows behind it.