ESI Card/ESIC card/e pehchan card

by varun · Published December 7, 2020 · Updated January 28, 2021

ESI card

ESI stands for Employees’ State Insurance Corporation. It is a self financing social security and health insurance scheme for Indian workers. ESIC is managed by employee state insurance corporation. It functions according to according to rules and regulations stipulated in ESI act, 1948. ESIC is a autonomous body and comes under Ministry of Labor and Employment. ESIC can be accessed at ESIC portal. ESI card or ESIC card is a magnetic card issued to every insured person under ESIC act to avail various ESIC benefits.

The Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 envisaged a social security scheme that would protect interest of workers. ESI protect workers in contingencies such as sickness, maternity, temporary or permanent physical disablement, death due to employment injury resulting in loss of wages or earning capacity.

Following entities are mandatorily required to be register under ESI act–

Having workforce greater than 10 or greater than 20 in few states (Maharashtra and Chandigarh)
Maximum salary of Rs 15000 for its employees.

In this article, we are going to discuss various aspects of ESIC card/ESI card/E pehchan card. These are different name for one and same thing under ESI card. ESI card is mandatory requirement for availing benefits under ESIC act, 1948. We would look into following aspects related to ESIC card in details in this article-

ESIC card/ESI card definition
Benefits of ESIC card or pehchan card
Application procedure on ESIC portal

What is an ESIC card or ESI card?

ESI card is a basic card given to every member who is insured under ESI act, 1948. ESIC card is also known as pehchan card. It is a magnetic identification card which is provided to insured person and insured persona family members. One ESI card each is provided to insured person and his/her family members. Having an ESI pehchan card is an mandatory requirement for availing various ESIC related benefits under ESIC act. ESI card need to be produces at ESI hospitals and dispensaries for medical treatment of insured person or family members. For full list of ESIC benefits, you can check our article on various ESIC registration benefits for insures person.

Contents of ESIC pehchan card

ESIC pehchan card contains all detail specific to a insured person. various details including name, father’s name, insurance number and full address are mentioned on ESI card. These details are provided at the time of ESIC registration on ESIC portal. It also contains photograph of insured person along with biometric details like finger prints of insured person. Photograph and fingerprints of family members is provided on their pehchan card respectively.

Features and benefits of ESI card or pehchan card

A single ESIC card is issued for a employee. This pehchan card has a lifetime validity and insured person doesn’t need to apply for a new card even if he or she changes job at a different company. Same ESIC card remains valid at new job.
Most important benefits of availing ESIC scheme is that is enables insured person to avail seamless ESIC medical benefits across network of ESIC hospitals and dispensaries.
ESIC card is a magnetic card that stores all medical information related to a insured person. This is especially helpful during future treatment at ESIC affiliated hospital.
Having an ESIC pehchan card is a mandatory requirement for availing various benefits of ESIC scheme which includes medical and sickness benefits, disablement benefits, maternity benefits, unemployment allowances etc.
E pehchan card is a secured card and insured person doesn’t need to worry about its misuse. This card is secured by biometric authentication of insured person
To update ESIC employee contribution, insured person need to register on ESIC portal to update his information seamlessly
An insured person can change his personal information like mobile number himself. It can be updated by login in on ESIC portal himself or intimating employer to update on ESIC site.
Physical copy of ESIC e pehchan card need to be presented at the time of availing medical facilities at hospitals.

How to apply/download for ESIC E pehchan card

ESI card is mandatory requirement to avail various medical scheme under ESIC act, 1948. To download ESIC e pehchan card from ESIC portal, following steps need to be followed-

Login to the ESIC portal with your user credentials provided to you by ESIC during ESIC registration. You can learn how to register on ESIC in our article.
Under the employee section on ESIC site, click on “e-pehchan card“
You need to select the unit details for your organization to view employee details.
You would be able to view employee details working in your organization. To get details for a specific employee, enter ESIC insurance number for that employee. Now, you would be able to view details for that specific employee.
Now, click on “View counter foil” on employee detail page. This counter foil is nothing but e-pehchan card for that employee.
Under the same employee page, click on print option. This would automatically print ESIC card of that employee.
Employee need to take print out of the e pehchan card. Now, he needs to suffix photograph of himself and his dependent on the print out. This photograph should be self attested by employee or an ESIC official.
To utilize ESIC card for full benefits, employee also need to get official stamp of the organization or ESIC.

Tips for ESIC card

For an employee, it is important to update new employer about your previous ESIC car details. ESI card would most importantly contains details like ESI registration number. If an employee switch a job, there is no need to register for a new ESIC card. Old e-pehchan card would be sufficient for availing benefits. New employer need to provide his ESIC employee contribution against same ESIC card number.
If an employee need to avail various services and benefits associated with ESIC. Then, ESIC card is a mandatory requirement for it.
Employee should immediately register compliant for a lost ESIc card to a local ESI office. ESI card is compulsory requirement to avail various ESIC benefits.

In this article, we have discussed various features of ESIC card such as faeatures and benefits of ESIC card, application for a esic card, contents of ESIC card, How to download e pehchan card etc. We would continue to write more articles related to ESIC in this series. For further reading on different types of trade licenses required in India, you can visit our website’s other section.