ESI updates:
1. SPREE 2.0 – Scheme to Promote Registration of Employers and Employees
Objective: To bring unregistered employers and employees, particularly contractual and temporary workers, under the ESI fold.
Scheme Period: July 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025
Key Features:
- One-time opportunity for unregistered employers to voluntarily register with ESIC.
- Coverage will be extended from the actual date of joining or as declared by the employer.
- Past success of the scheme (launched in 2016) saw over 88,000 employers and 1.02 crore employees registered.
Impact for Employers:
A proactive chance to regularize compliance without the fear of retrospective penalties or litigation.
2. Amnesty Scheme – 2025
Objective: A one-time dispute resolution mechanism to settle long-pending ESIC cases and encourage fresh compliance.
Scheme Period: October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026
Key Features:
- Applicable to cases involving disputes, interest, and damages under the ESI Act.
- Regional Directors empowered to:
- Close cases where dues and interest have been paid.
- Withdraw proceedings in cases over 5 years old with no notices issued.
- A simplified damages structure is now in place:
- Uniform penalty capped at 1% per month, replacing the earlier graded system (which went up to 25% annually).
Benefits:
- Reduction in litigation burden for employers.
- Streamlined and predictable penalty regime.
- Encouragement for defaulting establishments to resolve pending matters without penal consequences.
Other Notable Approvals
- Relaxation in RGSKY Claims: The ESIC Director General may now approve delay condonation in unemployment benefit claims.
- AYUSH Policy Implementation: ESIC to integrate Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH) services in hospitals.
- Recruitment of AYUSH Staff: Positions like Yoga therapists and Panchakarma technicians to be added across ESI hospitals.
- Public-Charitable Hospital Partnerships: Pilots to extend ESIC coverage in underserved areas through OPD and emergency support.
Suggested Action Points for Employers:
- Review your employee database and identify unregistered workers.
- Avail SPREE 2.0 benefits before December 31, 2025.
- Revisit any pending ESIC disputes or litigation and prepare for the Amnesty Scheme launch in October 2025.