On the day the Union Budget 2018 was presented in Parliament by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, technical glitches in the e-way bill system disrupted the movement of goods across states. Though the eway bill system, which tracks the inter-state movement of goods was inaugurated on February 1 after undergoing trials, but it seemed that the trials were not carried out in a full fledged manner resulting in giving wrong information to industries and trade. To simply put GST Council tried to serve an uncooked E-way bill platter on the plate which almost left all the GSTIN holders with a jabbing pain to spare with.
So after the disruption, the Central Board of Excise and Customs announced that the trial phase of the electronic system would continue until further orders. The government has also seriously started to review the e way bill monitor again by collaboration with GST Network (GSTN), the NBC to conduct further trails and give a complete eway bill to dispense with. It is clear that government would now require to devote profound attention for proper roll-out of the e-way bill once again. The government may now also require to watch the sentiments of the industry as this could turn out to be similar to GST returns and to roll out e-way bill system only after thorough tests.
So what is an ewaybill we are discussing about. An e-way bill is an electronic data receipt generated during transactions between buyers and sellers. It is aimed at doing away with physical checks by state officials and ideally should reduce transit time across state borders, leading to reduction of costs within the logistics sector. It provides the technological framework to track both interstate and intrastate movements of goods of value exceeding Rs 50,000, for sales beyond 10 km in the new Goods and Services Tax regime.
Who has to generate the Eway bill then. Any supplier/recipient/transporter can generate an e-way bill. The moment it is generated, there is no requirement to fill the information pertaining to goods in the GST return as it will be automated. A unique e-way bill number (EBN), as well as a QR code, will be generated for tracking.
Industries emotions over E way bill when they faced technical glitches on Feb 1.
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Sample Characteristics |
Emotions |
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Consumer goods firm |
IJ hasty implementation of the e-way bill; IJ glitches in the system disrupting supplies across the trade IJ to have thorough and detailed tests before going ahead with its implementation |
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New logistics startups after GST enrollment |
IJ delay in the implementation of the e-way bill is unfortunate and been a let down for new start ups IJ implementation the e-way bill must be fast tracked to ensure a path to progress IJ the bill, which runs the objective of moving towards organised transactions, would also increase revenue generation of the GST |
There’s been a mixed emotions when we see this sampling tests. Where as startups in logistics segment are very enthusiastic about enrollment of Eway bill because of the organised system of transactions and increased business opportunities they are seeking through the doors of GST Eway bill. The problem is only with the unorganized sectors which are not yet ready to swap and move gently with GST stream. But one cannot blame it entirely on the unpreparedness from one end the other end where the government stands it has loose ends which is creating a stress in the system and leaving a negative impact. The only problem is that the government didn’t placed more fulcrum on the technological aspect of GST as the servers kept on crashing and also the flow of details that are to be filled in E waybill form generation were not adequately designed leading to uneasiness while filling up the form. And also there were lack of awareness upfront leading to confusions over the industry in understanding the way bill.
Has the government stepped up to the plate after this technical lag. On Friday, the finance ministry sought a report from GSTN, the IT-backbone provider for GST, on glitches in the system that derailed the anti-tax evasion electronic way bill system on the first day of launch. Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said that there would be no going back on the e-way bill and that it could be reintroduced in "next few weeks" after systems are fully compliant. So we can expect that the government would have answers for the technical set back faced at this initial stages of Eway bill.
Conclusions : It’s too early to call eway bill a failure just because of the technical glitches and weaker design. Every technical design requires time and efforts to fit it right into the system. And the government is also trying it hard to roll back e way bill back into the system. Till that we have to play a wait game. Instead one can devote time to create client masters, transporters master and prepare themselves for Eway bill as this will reduce their time and effort while generating E way bills when it comes back. Soon we will also be seeing software that would design the aspect of e way bill and produce them as part of software they offer. Especially from the best gst software in India, Tally.ERP 9 we can expect something coming from their side on eway bill as well which would ease our work with the generation of GST Eway bill. Till then we should not let our hopes down on eway bill as eway bill would provide benefits which any trade or industry could not discount with. I personally want that the eway bill should be fast tracked as the progress of the country depends entirely on it as it will boost the revenues into the GST system and ultimately benefit the organised taxpayers at large.
