What is an e-way bill? Examine the complexities associated with e-way billing process. Should they be any cause of concern?
Refer – The Hindu
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 6 years
KEY POINTS
E-way bill
· The Central Goods and Services Tax (Sixth Amendment) Rules, 2017, requires every person causing the movement of goods worth more than Rs.50,000 from one State to the other to generate an e-Way or electronic Way bill.
· The e-way bill can be electronically generated (on the government portal) either by the supplier or recipient of the consignment, before the movement of goods.
· It may possibly subject to few exemptions such as agricultural commodities.
· It is intended as a mechanism to prevent leakage of GST by tracking the movement of goods from one party (and place) to another.
Complexities with e-way bills
· The e-way bill, once generated, is valid for one day for consignment up to 100 km and then one additional day for every 100 km thereafter.
· If e-way bill is generated, but the goods are not transported then it has to be cancelled electronically.
· If the transporter transfers goods from one vehicle to another in the course of transit, then he will be required to generate a new e-way bill, before commencement of the movement.
· Transporters may be required to obtain a unique Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) and get it imbedded on the vehicle and map the e-way bill to the RFID prior to the movement of goods.
· It is important to note that e-way bill is required even in case of intra-state movement (beyond 10 km), which was not the case earlier.
Concerns with E-way bill
· It appears to be too stringent in terms of the reporting requirement.
· The industry is sceptical that this could result in Inspector Raj and the associated corruption, which GST was otherwise supposed to eliminate.
· Lack of preparedness and possible harassment by tax officials citing compliance issues could hinder movement of trucks.
· Movement of project cargo or heavy cargo, which takes months to reach the destination, could suffer as a result of the e-way bill rule that mandates 100 km per day movement.
· The mechanism proposed requires a certain level of maturity in terms of technology, systems and processes.
· Low literacy levels and poor technology awareness among a majority of truck owners could also create a stumbling block.
· Large proportion of transport sector is still unorganised and may not be equipped to deal with technology-led compliances.
Way forward
· Going by historical antecedents, discretion leads to harassment and corruption, and rules could have done better by defining discretionary measures more tightly.
· With just the e-way bill number, all transactions can now be tracked and average waiting time for vehicles will now reduce, as verification processes will be online.
· The compulsory introduction of e-way bill may face initial glitches, but in the long-term, it will benefit not only the logistics industry, but the country as a whole.
