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ESI calculator: employee and employer contribution

Work out the monthly ESI contribution on gross wages: 0.75% from the employee, 3.25% from the employer, and whether wages are within the ₹21,000 ceiling.

Last updated · FY 2026-27

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ESI wages

Monthly wages as the Social Security Code defines them. ESI applies up to ₹21,000 a month.

Estimates only, computed in your browser. Nothing you type is sent to or stored by wHRMS. Confirm figures with your CA or the statutory portal before filing.

Worked example

Santhosh at Aplenix Technologies earns ₹18,000 gross a month, within the ₹21,000 ceiling. The employee share is 0.75% of ₹18,000, ₹135, deducted from salary. The employer pays 3.25%, ₹585. Together ₹720 a month goes to ESIC. ESIC rounds each contribution up to the next rupee, so on gross wages of ₹15,100 the employee share of ₹113.25 is paid as ₹114.

Who is covered

ESI covers employees whose wages are ₹21,000 a month or less, or ₹25,000 for a person with disability, in factories and establishments where ESI applies. The ceiling is tested at the start of each six-month contribution period, not every month.

From 21 November 2025 the Code on Social Security definition of wages applies to ESI (Ministry of Labour FAQ, March 2026). Wages are basic pay, DA and retaining allowance. HRA, conveyance, overtime allowance, statutory bonus, commission, the employer's PF contribution, gratuity and expense reimbursements are left out, but if the excluded payments are more than half of total pay, the excess over half is added back to wages. ESIC's website may still show the older ESI Act definition, which counted HRA and overtime in gross wages.

For employers: deducting and paying ESI

Payroll has to check coverage at the start of each contribution period, keep covered employees on ESI until the period ends, deduct 0.75% and add the employer's 3.25%, and pay both to ESIC by the 15th of the following month. The wHRMS payroll module works out ESI with each payslip from the employee's salary structure.

Frequently asked questions

The employee pays 0.75% and the employer 3.25% of gross wages, 4% in all. These rates have applied since 1 July 2019. ESIC rounds each share up to the next rupee.

Employees earning wages of ₹21,000 a month or less in an establishment covered by ESI. For a person with disability the ceiling is ₹25,000.

Coverage is checked at the start of each contribution period (April to September, October to March). An employee covered at the start keeps contributing on actual wages until the period ends, even after a raise takes wages above ₹21,000. Coverage stops from the next period.

No. Employees whose average daily wage is ₹176 or less are exempt from the employee share. The employer still pays its 3.25% on their wages.

Since 21 November 2025 ESI uses the Code on Social Security definition of wages, which leaves out overtime allowance, like HRA and conveyance, unless those excluded payments together are more than half of total pay; the excess is then added back to wages. Under the old ESI Act, overtime counted for contributions but not for the coverage test, and ESIC's own website may still describe that older rule.

Medical care for the employee and family at ESIC dispensaries and hospitals, and cash benefits for sickness, maternity, disablement from employment injury, and dependants’ benefit if a worker dies from an employment injury.