New Delhi: The Government, in principle, decided to enhance the threshold limit of wage for coverage under the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Act, 1948 from existing Rs.15,000/- pm to Rs. 21,000/- pm. For this purpose, a Notification had been issued in October 2016 inviting suggestion/objections from all stakeholders.

As on 31.03.3016, the number of Insured Persons(IPs) under ESI Scheme were 2.14 crores. The additional number of IPs on account of wage revision are estimated to be 35 Lakhs.  This information was given by Mr Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State (IC) for Labour and Employment, in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha yesterday (24 November 2016).

The ESI Corporation has taken a number of initaitives to absorb the increased number of workers under its coverage:

Increasing hospital bed strength of ESI Hospitals by 50%, if the bed occupancy of the concerned hospital has been consistently more than 70% in last three financial years

Up-gradation of its dispensaries into 6 & 30 bedded hospitals in a phased manner.

Partnering with private medical practitioners and private clinics for providing healthcare facilities in those areas where ESI does not have them.