ESIC raises wage threshold to Rs 21,000

ESIC raises wage threshold to Rs 21,000

The Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) today raised the monthly wage threshold to Rs 21,000, from the current Rs 15,000, for coverage under its health insurance scheme.

In a meeting held today, the ESIC board also decided to give an option to existing insured persons to continue membership even if their wage breaches the ceiling of Rs 21,000 per month.

At present, all those insured under the ESIC scheme lose their membership of ESIC as well as that of the insurance cover if their wage overshoots the ceiling.

"ESIC has raised the threshold wage limit from Rs 15,000 to Rs 21,000," Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya told PTI after the board meeting of ESIC here. Labour Minister is the Chairman of the ESIC Board.

Both the decisions will be implemented from October 1.

Dattatreya added that the move of raising the threshold will help bring in an additional 50 lakh members to ESIC.

At present, ESIC has 2.6 crore insured persons, which covers over 10 crore people, assuming four members of a family.

The minister also said there is a plan to increase the wage threshold for retirement fund body EPFO subscribers and it may be considered in the next meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT).

At present, the wage threshold is Rs 15,000 per month for coverage under its social security scheme.

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