Checked 29 September 2026. From the ESIC Regional Office circulars of November and December 2024 that called applications for the sitting of 5 and 6 July 2025 (vacancy years 2019 to 2025). The next LDCE had not been notified on 29 September 2026; its circular, or a revision of the Recruitment Regulations, would override this page.
"ESIC LDCE" is not one exam. It is one sitting at which the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation runs six separate promotion tests, each with its own feeder grade, its own service condition and its own papers: LDC, UDC, Assistant/Head Clerk, Stenographer, SSO/Manager Grade-II/Office Superintendent and Personal Assistant. The last sitting, on 5 and 6 July 2025, cleared seven vacancy years at once, 2019 to 2025, in a single online exam. This guide sets out who may sit each test, how service is counted, the seniors rule, the conflicts between documents, and a checker for your own dates. ProSyllabus is an independent study site, not part of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation. Every rule here is quoted or summarised from ESIC circulars and office orders; your Regional Office or Headquarters decides every individual case.
Where other pages get this wrong
Each ESIC LDCE post has its own feeder: Group C staff in Level-1 with 12th pass and 3 years for LDC; LDC (and, in the J&K and Karnataka circulars, Adrema Operator, Telephone Operator and Computor) with 5 years for UDC, plus 12th pass for vacancy years 2019 to 2021; UDC with 3 years for Assistant/Head Clerk; Head Clerk or Assistant with 3 years for SSO; LDC with 12th pass, 80 wpm and 2 years for Stenographer (3 years in one circular); Stenographer with 3 years and 100/120 wpm for PA.
Commonly published instead: A one-line ladder reading "MTS to LDC ... Assistant to Social Security Officer ... and the stenographer ladder", which is what the exam record on this site said until this guide. It left out the 12th-pass condition for LDC, the Head Clerk feeder for SSO, the Office Superintendent designation, and the fact that the Stenographer test covered only vacancy years up to 26.02.2021.
The Regional Office circulars of November and December 2024 (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, J&K) print the eligibility post by post "as per Recruitment Regulations"; the Kerala memo of 28.11.2024 also splits it by vacancy year. Neither uses the word MTS: both say "Group ‘C’ Staff in Level-1 in the pay matrix". Level-1 is the MTS pay level, but that is our reading, and the 12th-pass condition means not every Level-1 employee qualifies.
ESIC RO circulars of November and December 2024, official. Stenographer ran for vacancy years 2019 to 2021 only.
Who may sit each test
The table below is the eligibility the Regional Offices printed in November and December 2024 for the 2025 sitting. Each circular says the conditions are "as per Recruitment Regulations"; apart from the 2007 SSO regulations, the notified regulations themselves were not among the documents we retrieved, so the circulars are the operative text here.
| LDCE post | Feeder grade | Regular service | Other conditions | Vacancy years in the 2025 sitting | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Division Clerk (LDC) | Group C staff in Level-1 (Rs 18,000-56,900) | Not less than 3 years in the cadre | Higher Secondary (12th) pass from a recognised board | 2019 to 2025 | J&K and Gujarat circulars (official) |
| Upper Division Clerk / UDC Cashier | LDC in Level-2 (Rs 19,900-63,200); the J&K and Karnataka circulars add Adrema Operator, Telephone Operator and Computor | 5 years in the grade | Vacancy years 2019 to 2021: 12th pass as well ("LDCs possessing minimum qualification of Higher Secondary (12th pass) or equivalent with 5 years service", Kerala memo). 2022 to 2025: the Level-2 wording, with no education line | 2019 to 2025 | Kerala memo of 28.11.2024; J&K, Karnataka and Gujarat circulars (official) |
| Assistant / Head Clerk | UDC / UDC Cashier | 3 years in the grade | None printed | 2019 to 2025 | J&K and Gujarat circulars (official) |
| Stenographer | Lower Division Clerk | 2 years (Kerala and Karnataka, 28.11.2024; Gujarat corrigendum, 12.12.2024). The Maharashtra circular of 27.11.2024 says 3 years | 12th pass; 80 words a minute in shorthand (English or Hindi); working knowledge of computers including office suites and databases | 2019, 2020 and 2021 (vacancies up to 26.02.2021) | Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, J&K and Gujarat circulars and the Gujarat corrigendum (official) |
| SSO / Manager Grade-II / Office Superintendent | Head Clerk or Assistant | 3 years in the grade | Working knowledge of computers including office suites and databases (printed as essential in the Gujarat circular) | 2019 to 2025 | J&K, Gujarat and Delhi circulars (official) |
| Personal Assistant (PA) | Stenographer | At least 3 years | 120 or 100 words a minute in shorthand (English or Hindi); working knowledge of computers | 2019 to 2025 | J&K, Gujarat and Delhi circulars (official) |
Two features of the list are easy to miss. First, the Stenographer service condition was printed three ways. The Gujarat circular of 26.11.2024 and the J&K circular printed none; Gujarat then issued a corrigendum on 12.12.2024 saying it "may be read as LDC’s with two years of regular service", which matches the Kerala and Karnataka circulars of 28.11.2024; the Maharashtra circular of 27.11.2024 says three years. Two years is the figure most regions printed, and the checker below uses it, but ask your own region which it applied. Second, the Stenographer test was held for vacancy years 2019, 2020 and 2021 only, "for the vacancies upto 26.02.2021 i.e. till the revision of RRs of the post", in the words of the J&K circular. What the revised Stenographer regulations say about filling the post after that date is not in any document we read, so we cannot tell a Lower Division Clerk whether a Stenographer LDCE will appear at the next sitting. Every other test ran for all seven vacancy years in "a single examination" (Gujarat circular), with a select list drawn up for each year.
Pay: the 2025 promotion orders put both SSO and PA at Level 7 (Rs 44,900-1,42,400), and the circulars print Level-1 (Rs 18,000-56,900) for the LDC feeder and Level-2 (Rs 19,900-63,200) for the UDC feeder. The documents we read print no level for UDC, Assistant or Stenographer, so we give none. Above SSO sits Assistant Director/Manager Grade-I, filled by a separate LDCE that is not part of this sitting; see the last section.
How the service is counted
Every circular fixes the same crucial date: 1 January of the vacancy year. Service is counted as regular service in the feeder grade up to that date, and the application proforma asks for it separately for each year, in years, months and days, "as on 01.01.2019" through "as on 01.01.2025". A candidate therefore can be eligible for later vacancy years and not earlier ones, and in a multi-year sitting that difference decides which year’s select list you can appear on.
Vacancies for each year are counted to 31 December of that year, and the 2025 figures include anticipated vacancies. For the Stenographer post the last year counted stops at 26.02.2021.
The HQ letter of 22.11.2024 sets how the years interact. Candidates eligible on 01.01.2019 are considered for every vacancy year; those who become eligible later are considered from that year on; and "those who find place in the Select List for the vacancy year 2019 will be excluded for further vacancy years", and so on for each later year. Assistant, UDC, LDC and Stenographer are regional cadres, run on each region’s vacancies and seniority; SSO and PA are all-India cadres.
Rules on counting that the circulars print
- Regular service only. Every post is worded as service "on regular basis" or "regular service in the grade". The J&K proforma asks separately for any ad hoc post held, which suggests ad hoc spells are looked at apart; the circulars do not say they count.
- Inter-regional transfer. For UDC and Level-1 staff who joined the J&K region on inter-regional transfer, "the qualifying service condition would be counted from the date of his/her joining" in that region (J&K circular). Other circulars we read do not repeat the sentence, so treat it as that region’s stated practice.
- No relaxation. "No relaxation in eligibility conditions/qualifying service for appearing in LDCE will be considered by Examination Cell, Hqrs Office" (J&K and Gujarat). Regions were told not to forward relaxation cases.
ESIC RO circulars of 26.11.2024 (Gujarat), 03.12.2024 (J&K) and December 2024 (Delhi), official.
The rule that lets a senior sit with an eligible junior
The Delhi circular prints a clause that matters most in a sitting spanning seven years: where juniors who have completed their qualifying service are being considered, their seniors "would also be considered provided they are not short of the requisite qualifying/eligibility services by more than half of such qualifying/eligibility service or two years, whichever is less and have successfully completed their probation period". The same words appear as a note in the notified 2007 SSO regulations, in the 2015 draft regulations for SSO and Head Clerk/Assistant and in the 2025 draft for Assistant Director. The arithmetic below is ours.
| Qualifying service | Half of it | Two years | Largest shortfall allowed (the lesser) | So a senior needs at least |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 years (LDC, Assistant/Head Clerk, SSO, PA) | 1 year 6 months | 2 years | 1 year 6 months | 1 year 6 months of regular service |
| 5 years (UDC) | 2 years 6 months | 2 years | 2 years | 3 years of regular service |
All three must hold: an eligible junior is being considered, your shortfall is within the allowance, and your probation is complete. The Delhi circular prints the clause for SSO and PA. Whether each other region applied it to LDC, UDC, Assistant and Stenographer is not stated in the J&K and Gujarat circulars, which do not print it, so check with your establishment branch before relying on it for those posts. The checker does not apply it to the Stenographer test, whose service condition itself varies by region.
Check your own eligibility
Pick your present grade, enter the date from which you have held it on a regular basis, and tick what applies. The checker counts your service to 1 January of each vacancy year from 2019 to 2025, the years the last sitting covered, and applies the published conditions. The next sitting has not been notified; if it covers later years, the same rules would give the same answer for those years only if the circular repeats them.
ESIC LDCE eligibility checker
Applies the conditions printed in the ESIC Regional Office circulars of November and December 2024. It does not know about pending disciplinary cases, reservation, or the vacancies in your region, and it cannot grant anything: your Regional Office verifies every application against your service book.
For readers without JavaScript, this is how the checker decides some common cases. Service figures are our arithmetic.
| Your situation | What the rules give | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Level-1 Group C, 12th pass, regular since 01.07.2019 | LDC test: not eligible for 2019 to 2022 on service; eligible for 2023 onwards (3 years 6 months by 01.01.2023) | J&K and Gujarat circulars; our arithmetic |
| LDC with 12th pass, regular since 01.01.2018 | UDC test: eligible for 2023 onwards (5 years on 01.01.2023); for 2021 and 2022 only through the seniors rule, if a junior qualifies and probation is done. Without 12th pass, 2021 is ruled out and 2022 still needs the seniors rule | Circulars and the Kerala memo; seniors rule from the Delhi circular; our arithmetic |
| LDC with 12th, 80 wpm and computer knowledge, regular since 01.01.2018 | Stenographer test: eligible for 2020 and 2021 on the two-year rule (2 years on 01.01.2020); not for 2019. On the Maharashtra three-year wording, 2021 only. No Stenographer test for 2022 onwards | Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra circulars and the Gujarat corrigendum; our arithmetic |
| UDC, regular since 01.03.2020 | Assistant/Head Clerk test: eligible for 2024 and 2025; 2023 falls 2 months short of 3 years, which the seniors rule would cover only if a junior qualifies | Circulars; our arithmetic |
Where the documents disagree
| Question | One document says | Another says | Our reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who may sit the UDC test? | J&K: LDC, Adrema Operator, Telephone Operator or Computor (grade pay Rs 1,900 under the RR of 03.12.2011, with 12th pass; Level-2 under the RR of 27.02.2021), five years either way. Karnataka names the same four grades in Level-2 | Gujarat: "LDC’s in Level-2 ... with 05 years’ service", no other feeder named. Kerala: LDCs with 12th and 5 years for 2019-2021, Level-2 LDCs with 5 years for 2022-2025 | All give five years. Kerala is the only text that says which wording governs which year: 12th pass for 2019 to 2021, matching the 2011 RR, and the 2021 wording from 2022. The extra feeders are named in the J&K and Karnataka texts; ask your region if you hold one of those posts. |
| How long must an LDC serve before the Stenographer test? | Kerala and Karnataka (28.11.2024) and the Gujarat corrigendum (12.12.2024): 2 years of regular service | Maharashtra (27.11.2024): 3 years. The first Gujarat circular and the J&K circular: no service line | A real conflict between official circulars. Two years is the most widely printed figure and the one Gujarat corrected to; check what your region applied. |
| How long must an Assistant/Head Clerk serve before the SSO test? | The 2024 circulars: 3 years regular service for the LDCE. The notified 2007 SSO regulations: 3 years for promotion as well | The DRAFT regulations of 2015 and 13.10.2023: 5 years for promotion by seniority, with officials who already had 3 years when the new rule is notified protected | The five-year figure is a draft proposal for the seniority route, not a rule in any notified text we read. For the 2025 LDCE the figure was three years. |
| How long must a UDC serve before the Assistant/Head Clerk test? | The 2024 circulars: 3 years regular service | The 2015 DRAFT RR: 5 years, with UDCs already in post on the date the revised regulations were notified continuing at 3 years | The circulars applied 3 years in 2024. Whether the notified final regulation kept the 5-year figure for later entrants is not in any document we read. |
| Is computer knowledge a condition for SSO? | Gujarat: essential | J&K and Delhi: not printed for SSO | Every SSO candidate sits a qualifying Computer Skill Test anyway (see the pattern guide), so the difference is small in practice. |
What else the application asks
Applications went through proper channel on a proforma verified against the service record, by 03.12.2024 (Karnataka), 04.12.2024 (Kerala), 06.12.2024 (Maharashtra, and Gujarat’s first circular; the Gujarat corrigendum of 12.12.2024 gave 13.12.2024), 10.12.2024 (J&K) or 13.12.2024 (Delhi); incomplete or late ones "will not be entertained".
Items in the 2024 proformas and circulars
- Pending disciplinary proceedings. The J&K proforma asks whether any are "pending or contemplated", with details on a separate sheet. The circulars do not say how an answer of yes is treated.
- All-India posting for SSO and PA. "Candidates applying for LDCE for promotion to the post of SSO and Personal Assistant will be liable for posting anywhere in India in case they are selected" (J&K). The other posts carry no such line.
- PwBD candidates certified by the Medical Board attached to the Special Employment Exchange (or a Civil Surgeon where there is no Board) as unable to type are exempted from the Computer Skill Test (HQ letter of 22.11.2024, repeated in the Delhi circular). Scribes follow the Ministry of Social Justice OMs of 29.08.2018 and later (HQ action plan).
ESIC RO circulars of 2024, the HQ letter of 22.11.2024 and the HQ action plan of 27.06.2025, official.
What this sitting did not cover
The rung above SSO, Assistant Director/Manager Grade-I, has its own LDCE under its own regulations. The draft Recruitment Regulations 2025 circulated on 20.06.2025 give 413 posts at Level 8 (Rs 47,600-1,51,100), filled 80% by promotion and 20% by an LDCE "confined to the employees in the grade of Social Security officer/Manager Grade II/Superintendent with two years regular service". That is a draft, and a separate exam; it is not one of the six tests on this page. The most recent promotions to Assistant Director on an LDCE came through UPSC: HQ Office Order 159 of 27.07.2026 promoted 27 officials on qualifying the Combined Section Officers’ (Grade B) LDCE 2025 conducted by UPSC. For the same reason, if you are comparing notes with colleagues in EPFO, their Section Supervisor LDCE runs under EPFO’s own rules, and nothing on this page carries across.
Can an MTS sit the ESIC LDCE for LDC?
The circulars say Group C staff in Level-1 of the pay matrix, which is the MTS pay level, with 12th pass and at least 3 years of regular service in the cadre. They never use the word MTS, and a Level-1 employee without 12th pass is not eligible.
How many years does an LDC need for the UDC LDCE?
Five years of regular service in the grade, counted to 1 January of the vacancy year, and for vacancy years 2019 to 2021 also 12th pass (Kerala memo of 28.11.2024). The seniors rule can cover a shortfall of up to 2 years if a junior is eligible and you have completed probation.
How many years does an LDC need for the Stenographer LDCE?
Two years of regular service in the Kerala and Karnataka circulars and the Gujarat corrigendum of 12.12.2024; the Maharashtra circular of 27.11.2024 says three. Add 12th pass, 80 wpm shorthand and computer knowledge.
Is there a Stenographer LDCE for 2022 onwards?
Not in the 2025 sitting. The Stenographer test covered vacancy years 2019 to 2021 only, for vacancies up to 26.02.2021, when the Recruitment Regulations of the post were revised. What happens after that date is not in the documents we read.
What is the crucial date for ESIC LDCE eligibility?
1 January of each vacancy year: 01.01.2019 for vacancy year 2019, and so on to 01.01.2025 for vacancy year 2025.
Will I be transferred if I clear the SSO or PA LDCE?
The J&K circular says candidates for SSO and PA are liable for posting anywhere in India if selected. The SSO order for vacancy year 2018 promoted officials at their present place of posting; later orders are not described here beyond their row counts.
Is relaxation of qualifying service possible?
No. The J&K and Gujarat circulars say no relaxation in eligibility or qualifying service will be considered, and told regions not to forward such cases. The seniors rule is not a relaxation; it is a separate clause with its own conditions.
When is the next ESIC LDCE?
Not notified as of 29 September 2026. The last sitting was on 5 and 6 July 2025 for vacancy years 2019 to 2025.
Sources
- official — ESIC RO Jammu & Kashmir circular No. A-12023/9/2023-ADMN dated 03.12.2024: posts, vacancy years 2019-2025, crucial dates, eligibility per post, inter-regional transfer rule, J&K vacancies (Annexure-A), application proforma
- official — ESIC RO Gujarat circular No. 37.A.12.23.2024.LDCE.Estt dated 26.11.2024: eligibility per post, "a single examination shall be conducted in online mode", application proformas
- official — ESIC RO Gujarat Corrigendum No. 37.A.12.23.2024.LDCE.Estt-Part(1) dated 12.12.2024: Stenographer eligibility to be read as "LDC’s with two years of regular service", applications by 13.12.2024
- official — ESIC RO Kerala Memorandum No. 54.A.36.11.3.2022 dated 28.11.2024: eligibility per post and vacancy year (UDC: 12th pass and 5 years for 2019-2021, Level-2 and 5 years for 2022-2025; Stenographer: LDCs with 2 years regular service), applications by 04.12.2024
- official — ESIC HQ letter No. A-12023/5/2022-Exam (Comp. No. 20385) dated 22.11.2024, as circulated by ESIC RO Karnataka (circular No. 53.A.12.27.06.2018.Estt dated 28.11.2024, with the SRO Mysore covering circular of 29.11.2024): vacancy years, a single online examination, year-wise select lists, regional and all-India cadres, the scheme of examination for all six posts, the qualifying benchmark, the PwD exemption from the CST; enclosing HQ letter F.No. A-36(11)/2012/LDCE/Exam dated 02.08.2013 on the SSO Paper III syllabus
- official — ESIC RO Maharashtra circular No. 31-A/36(11)/LDCE/2024/Estt.II dated 27.11.2024: eligibility per post (Stenographer: LDC with 12th, three years, 80 wpm; UDC: both the 2011 and 2021 RR wordings), applications by 06.12.2024 (scanned; read by OCR)
- official — ESIC RO Delhi circular No. 11-A/36/38/1/2024/Rectt-1 (December 2024): SSO and PA; NIL Stenographer vacancy; seniors-considered rule; PwBD exemption from the Computer Skill Test; scheme letter of 22.11.2024 at console Sl. No. 9989/2024
- official — ESIC HQ Action Plan (revised), No. A-12023/5/2022-Exam (Comp. No. 20385) dated 27.06.2025: paper-wise pattern, dates, timings and skill tests for SSO, Assistant/Head Clerk, UDC, LDC, PA and Stenographer
- official — ESIC (Insurance Inspector/Manager Grade-II/Superintendent) Recruitment Regulations, 2007, No. A-12(11)-4/2002-Estt.I dated 16.04.2007, Gazette of India Part III Section 4, 19 May 2007: 50% promotion (Head Clerks or Assistants with 3 years), 25% LDCE, 25% direct recruitment; the ten-head LDCE syllabus; the seniors note (scanned; read by OCR)
- official — ESIC Memorandum No. A-12(11)14/2023-E.I dated 13.10.2023: proposed amendments to the RRs for MTS, LDC, UDC, Head Clerk/Assistant and SSO/Manager Grade II/Superintendent, with the existing regulations annexed (the draft SSO RR proposes 5 years for promotion, with 3-year holders protected)
- official — ESIC HQ Office Order No. 281 of 2025 dated 26.12.2025: promotion of "all 95 officials" to Social Security Officer (Level 7) on the LDCE, vacancy year 2019, with the DPC-or-LDCE option and the conditions attached (we cite counts only)
- official — ESIC HQ Office Order No. 43 of 2025, F. No. A-12023/7/2025-E-II dated 19.11.2025: result of LDCE-2025 for Personal Assistant, vacancy years 2019-2025 (HQ, D(M)D and Odisha units), Level 7, acceptance by 21.11.2025, pay option under FR 22(I)(a)(i) (we cite row counts only)
- official — ESIC Memorandum No. A-12(11)14/2023-E.I dated 20.06.2025: draft Assistant Director/Manager Grade-I Recruitment Regulations 2025 (80% promotion, 20% LDCE), comments invited
- official — ESIC HQ Office Order No. 159 of 2026, No. A-33/13/1/AD(LDCE)2019-Estt.I-Part(1) dated 27.07.2026: 27 officials promoted to Assistant Director (Level 8) on regular basis on qualifying the Combined Section Officers’ (Grade B) LDCE 2025 conducted by UPSC (we cite the count only)
- official — ESIC Memorandum No. A-12(11)4/2014-E.I (December 2015): DRAFT Recruitment Regulations for SSO/Manager Grade II/Superintendent and Head Clerk/Assistant, with quota split and the SSO LDCE syllabus
- official — ESIC HQ Office Order No. 169 of 2025, File A-22/15/2/2021-E.I dated 29.05.2025: promotion to SSO (Level 7) on qualifying the LDCE for vacancy year 2018 (we cite row counts only)
official = a document published by the conducting body. reported = a news or coaching site we could not check against an original. Where sources disagree this page says so rather than picking one.
