Equal Opportunity Policy under the RPwD Act (India)

The day you hire your twentieth employee, a quiet compliance switch flips: you now owe a registered Equal Opportunity Policy under the RPwD Act, and most founders have never heard of it until an auditor asks.

This guide covers the whole obligation in plain language: who must frame an equal opportunity policy, what it has to contain, how to register and publish it, and the records and liaison officer that go with it. It also clears up the biggest myth, that private companies must reserve jobs. Start with the summary, then read the section you need.

1 Does the equal opportunity policy apply to you?

The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016, and its Rules of 2017 place the duty on every “establishment”, which expressly includes private companies, firms and other bodies. The size of your team decides how much you must do, not whether you must do anything.

• 20 or more employees: you must frame and publish the detailed equal opportunity policy, register it with the Commissioner, appoint a liaison officer, and maintain records. This is the line startups cross without noticing.
• Fewer than 20 employees: you still publish an equal opportunity policy, but a shorter one covering the facilities and amenities you provide, the posts identified as suitable, and the manner of selecting persons with disabilities.

The count is a headcount of employees at the establishment, so it moves with hiring, not with who sits on formal payroll versus a vendor’s.

2 What your Equal Opportunity Policy must contain

An equal opportunity policy is not a one-line diversity statement. For a 20-plus establishment, Rule 8 of the RPwD Rules lists what it has to spell out. Cover each of these.

3 Register and publish the policy

Framing the policy is half the job. The Act wants it on the record and in the open. The sequence is short, but each step is a distinct obligation.

4 Records, registers and the liaison officer

Two ongoing duties sit under the policy, and both are what an inspector or a due-diligence team will actually test.

The record you must keep

A 20-plus establishment maintains a register of the persons with disabilities it employs. It captures:

• The number of persons with disabilities employed and the date from which each is employed.
• The name, gender and address of each such employee.

These records must be produced for inspection on demand by the authorities under the Act, and you must supply information needed to check compliance. A nil position is fine; the point is that the register exists and is current.

The liaison officer

The liaison officer is the person accountable for making the policy real: overseeing the recruitment of persons with disabilities and the provision of facilities and amenities for them. Name a specific role holder, not “HR” in the abstract, so the responsibility is traceable.

5 Reservation is government-only: the private-sector duty

The most common misconception is that private companies must reserve a share of jobs for persons with disabilities. They do not.

The 4% reservation in Section 34 of the Act applies to government establishments. For the private sector, the RPwD Act takes a different route:

• Frame, publish and register the equal opportunity policy.
• Appoint a liaison officer and maintain records, as above.
• Run a non-discriminatory, accessible workplace, with reasonable accommodation for employees who acquire or disclose a disability.
• Access incentives: the government operates incentive schemes for private employers who provide employment to persons with disabilities, so inclusion can also be a support you claim rather than only a cost.

6 What non-compliance costs

Contravening the Act or its rules carries a fine of up to ₹10,000 for a first contravention. A subsequent contravention attracts ₹50,000 to ₹5,00,000. The fines are modest next to, say, GST exposure, but that is not where the real cost sits.

The bigger cost is reputational and transactional. A missing equal opportunity policy, an unregistered copy, or an empty register is exactly the kind of item an investor’s HR and legal diligence flags, and it can stall a term sheet until you cure it. It is cheap to do right and awkward to fix in a hurry.

7 Your setup checklist

1. Count employees at each establishment. At 20, the full duty switches on.
2. Frame the equal opportunity policy with all the Rule 8 items: facilities, identified posts, selection, training, assistive devices, support measures and a grievance route.
3. Appoint and name a liaison officer in the policy.
4. Register a copy with your State Commissioner (or the Chief Commissioner), confirming the state’s current process.
5. Publish the policy on your website, or at a conspicuous place if you have none.
6. Open and maintain the register of persons with disabilities employed, ready for inspection.
7. Review the policy and register annually, alongside POSH.

8 FAQs

Disclaimer: This article is general information as of August 2026 and is not legal advice. The RPwD Act, its rules, penalties and state-level registration processes can change and vary by location. Confirm your specific obligations with a qualified professional before acting.