ESIC Introduces SPREE to Streamline Employer and Employee Registrations

Quick summary:

• The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) regional office in vijayawada has initiated an awareness drive for the Scheme for Promotion of Registration of Employers and Employees (SPREE).
• SPREE allows employers to register their factories, establishments, and employees digitally via ESIC portal, shram Suvidha, and MCA portal. Registrations are valid from the date provided by the employer without any retrospective inspections or demands.
• As of now, 69,632 establishments are registered in Andhra Pradesh under ESIC covering approximately 14 lakh employees.
• The scheme encourages voluntary compliance by simplifying registration processes and removing the fear of penalties for earlier non-compliance.
• ESIC officials urged employers to utilize SPREE to include more workers under social protection provisions.

Indian Opinion Analysis:

The launch of an awareness campaign by ESIC demonstrates a proactive effort toward extending social security coverage to unorganized sectors through SPREE. By easing registration requirements and eliminating punitive demands for prior non-compliance, the program could support better workforce inclusivity-valuable in a country like India where informal labor constitutes a notable portion. With nearly 14 lakh employees already covered under ESI in Andhra Pradesh alone, this initiative has potential scalability across other states if well-publicized and adopted.

Digital facilitation also aligns with India’s broader emphasis on digital conversion across organizations.However, ensuring adequate outreach especially among small-to-mid-scale enterprises will be critical to achieve SPREE’s aspiring goals. Simplifications aside, structural gaps such as technology access among certain sections may pose obstacles unless consistently addressed.

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