ECHS card — how to apply online, step by step

First: are you eligible?

• Ex-servicemen drawing a pension — service, disability or family pension from the CDA, including Indian Coast Guard.
• War widows (Veer Naris) and next of kin of battle casualties.
• Personnel disabled in operations, and recruits medically boarded out during training who draw a disability pension.
• Not eligible: ex-servicemen without a pension. And you cannot draw benefits of any other government medical scheme at the same time — Fixed Medical Allowance also stops from the date of ECHS membership.

Dependents get their own cards: spouse; unemployed sons up to 25; unmarried/widowed/legally divorced daughters and sisters irrespective of age (with self-declaration); minor brothers up to 18; disabled children/brothers/sisters for life (PWD Act 2016, minimum 40%, with a service-specialist certificate); and wholly dependent parents whose combined monthly income from all sources is within ₹9,000 plus DA and who generally reside with you. Grandparents are not entitled.

Which category are you? (pick before you start)

The online form asks for your category first — choosing wrong wastes the application. The official instructions define these:

• Future Retiree — retiring or taking premature retirement in the next six to eight months. Apply before retirement so the temporary slip covers the gap.
• Temporary Slip Holder — you already hold a temporary slip.
• Old Card Holder (16 Kb / 32 Kb) — cards issued up to April 2010 were 16 Kb, May 2010 to May 2015 were 32 Kb. 16 Kb cards stopped working from 1 January 2019, so a new 64 Kb card is compulsory for them; for 32 Kb holders it is optional for up to 10 years from the card's issue date.
• First-time applicants by retirement date — pre-1996 retiree, 1996–March 2003 retiree, or post-April 2003 retiree not a member yet.
• Death-in-service case, and loss of card / temporary slip — separate categories of their own.

Keep these ready before you sit down

• Aadhaar number — mandatory (exceptions per the official FAQ: residents of the North-East states, J&K, and Nepal-domicile Gorkhas). Mobile number — mandatory; every SMS about the card comes here. PAN — mandatory for all members above 18 if held. Email is optional.
• Photos: recent passport-size colour photo of every member, in civil dress, plain background, not more than 6 months old. Signature or thumb impression: blue ink on plain white paper, photographed or scanned as JPG/JPEG — any file size works.
• Documents by category (from the official FAQ's table):
  • PPO copy — all pensioner categories (pre-1986 retirees without a PPO copy can upload the Pension Book page showing the PPO number).
  • Old temporary slip / old smart card copy — if you hold one.
  • MRO receipt — 1996–2003 retirees and Coast Guard personnel (contribution by Military Receivable Order).
  • DPDO / banker's certificate of non-drawing of Fixed Medical Allowance — pre-1996 and 1996–2003 first-time applicants.
  • Death certificate of the ex-serviceman — family-pensioner cases.
  • Disability medical certificate — PWD cases.
• No affidavit. The official FAQ says a self-declaration inside the application replaces it.

The application, step by step

1. Register. On the online portal enter name, service number (the prefix field is optional — it exists for Army officers and JCOs), mobile number, a password and the security answers; verify the OTP. Registration lives for 15 days — if you do not finish the form and pay within that, it expires and you register afresh.
2. Pick your category and fill the form: service details, type of pension, rank, last unit, Record Office, PPO number, address — and select your Regional Centre and parent polyclinic; the Station HQ fills itself from that choice.
3. Add dependents with photo, signature, Aadhaar, date of birth, income and relation. A dependent can even have a different polyclinic (their card is then collected from that Station HQ). Children born after retirement need their Part-II order / Record-Office endorsement done first — the FAQ says if the name is already recorded, no extra document upload is needed.
4. Check, then pay. Download the filled form, read it once, accept the self-declaration, and pay ₹177 per card (incl. taxes) + transaction charges — net banking, card or wallet. Every member needs a separate card. Use the Temporary Save button as you go; the portal does not work on Internet Explorer.
5. After payment, your filled application is available in your login for your own record — "there is NO need to forward filled application to any office."

The one-time contribution (different from the card fee)

• Post-April 2003 retirees: contribution is deducted by CDA(P) and shown in the PPO (Coast Guard future retirees pay by MRO instead).
• 1996–2003 retirees joining now: pay one-time contribution by MRO and upload the receipt.
• Pre-1996 retirees: exempt from contribution.
• War-disabled pensioners, war widows and NOK of battle casualties: exempt.
• Rates in the official instructions (w.e.f. 29 Dec 2017, 7th CPC): ₹30,000 recruit to Havildar and equivalent; ₹67,000 Nb Sub to Sub Maj and equivalent (including Hony Nb Sub / MACP Nb Sub and Hony Lt/Capt); ₹1,20,000 all officers. Ward entitlement follows the slab: general / semi-private / private. These figures are from Instructions Ver 6.0 — confirm the current slab with your Record Office before paying an MRO.
• One warning from the instructions, verbatim in spirit: deduction of contribution by CDA is no guarantee of membership — the application still has to be made and verified.

After you submit — what actually happens

1. Record Office verification. The official FAQ is blunt: "The responsibility to verify the application lies with the Record Office of the applicant." Stuck for weeks at "Awaiting verification"? The FAQ's own answer is to approach your Record Office.
2. Observations. If the Record Office finds a mistake, you get an SMS, the observation appears in your login, you correct and resubmit. Mistakes in date of birth or retirement date are also fixed this way — the edit option is given by the Record Office.
3. Temporary slip. Generated straight after payment only for: future retirees, old temporary-slip holders, death-in-service cases, and loss-of-card cases. First-time applicants (pre-1996, 1996–2003, post-2003 not a member) get their slip in their login after Record Office verification. In an emergency, the Regional Centre or Station HQ can issue one. A future retiree's slip is signed by the OIC polyclinic after seeing original documents, and activates only from the date of retirement.
4. Collection. Cards go to your Station HQ, not your house. An SMS with OTP arrives; the primary beneficiary collects in person with the documents, depositing all old cards / temporary slips — the card activates on handover.

Questions and answers

How do I apply for an ECHS card?

Only online. Go to echs.gov.in, open the Online Smart Card Application, register with your name, service number and mobile number (OTP), pick your category, fill the form, upload photos, signatures and the documents for your category, accept the self-declaration and pay ₹177 per card plus transaction charges. There is no hard copy to submit anywhere — the official FAQ says the physical submission has been done away with.

Who is eligible for an ECHS card?

Ex-servicemen drawing a pension, disability pension or family pension from the Controller of Defence Accounts (including Coast Guard), war widows and next of kin of battle casualties, personnel disabled in operations, and recruits medically boarded out during training with a disability pension. Ex-servicemen not drawing a pension are not eligible, and you cannot hold another government medical scheme at the same time.

What documents are needed for the ECHS card application?

Photographs and signatures of every member in all cases. Beyond that it depends on category: PPO copy for most pensioner categories, old card or temporary slip copy if you hold one, MRO receipt for 1996–2003 retirees and Coast Guard, DPDO or banker's certificate for non-drawing of Fixed Medical Allowance for pre-2003 first-time applicants, death certificate where the ex-serviceman has died, and a disability medical certificate for PWD cases. No affidavit is needed — a self-declaration in the application replaces it.

How much does the ECHS card cost?

₹177 per smart card, inclusive of taxes, plus transaction charges as applicable — paid online through net banking, debit or credit card, or wallet. Every member, including each dependent, needs a separate card. This is the card fee; the one-time ECHS contribution, where payable, is a separate matter fixed by rank slab.

What happens after I submit the ECHS card application?

Your Record Office verifies the application — the official FAQ is explicit that verification responsibility lies with the Record Office. If it raises observations, they appear in your login and you get an SMS; correct and resubmit. Once verified, cards are printed and dispatched to your Station HQ, an SMS with OTP comes to your registered mobile, and every beneficiary collects their card in person, depositing the old card or temporary slip.

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