01 December 2021
A new private company applied for ESI registration as required mandatorily during company incorporation. After login to ESIC website there was an option of grace period for new company. The grace period was updated till 1/9.
After that an email was received as follows. "You have sought grace period for compliance of your Factory/Establishment under the ESI Act upto 1/9. Please login to the ‘Employers’ portal for updation of status & compliance on or before the expiry of the grace period so as to avoid defaulter action." It received another email later about allocation of labour identification number to company.
The company filed nil ESI contribution for the month of September (since grace period was till 1/9) on October. It was filed by uploading MC excel template in blank format after downloading from monthly contribution page. The company has not started its operations and having no employee so far. These are some queries that I have in this regard.
1) Whether any ESI compliances are required in this case? 2) Is it required to pay nil challan after filing nil ESI contribution this case? 3) Whether the company should keep filing nil ESI contribution every month as it has started filing from September onwards?
02 December 2021
As company has not started its operations and having no employee so far, no need for any ESIC and PF compliance till the provisions are applicable. No need to file any return or other formally to follow