ESIC launches six-month SPREE scheme offering one-time opportunity for ESI registration without retrospective action

The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (“ESIC”) has launched the Scheme to Promote Registration of Employers and Employees (“SPREE”), offering a one-time window from 1 July 2025 to 31 December 2025 for unregistered factories, establishments, and employees to come under the ESI Act, 1948 without the fear of retrospective coverage or punitive action. Employers registering during this period will be considered covered from their declared date of registration, and employees will enjoy ESI benefits from their own date of registration.

To ensure maximum participation, ESIC has directed its Regional and Sub-Regional Offices to spearhead awareness drives through industrial clusters, trade bodies, MSME associations, and labour departments, supported by facilitation centres, seminars, digital publicity, and outreach campaigns. Units covered under SPREE will be exempt from inspection for one year, barring specific directions from headquarters, and no surveys will be conducted during this period.

The scheme is aimed at closing coverage gaps in the social security net, particularly in the MSME sector, and aligns with ESIC’s broader push to improve compliance through cooperation and awareness rather than coercion.