NEW DELHI: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council recently gave an in-principle approval to the e-way bill, to keep tabs on the movement of goods. Once the e-way bill is implemented, likely by October 1, all goods and services worth Rs 50,000 or more would need to be registered before these are moved 10 km for sale. The Council promised there would be very few check posts to ensure the smooth transport of goods. These rules would not be applicable for exempted goods.
There was an expectation in some quarters that the threshold for the e-way registration would be increased to goods worth Rs 1 lakh.
Jaitley said the registration process would be technology driver, with little human intervention.
Also, one permit would allow a trucker to travel 100 km in a day; if they took more than a day to travel this distance, they would need to renew the permit. Experts, too, were not happy with e-way Bill.
M S Mani of Deloitte said it ran contrary to the idea of one nation one market that the GST tried to build. Pratik Jain of PwC said, “For the real benefit of the GST to be realised, it is important that supply chain bottlenecks are reduced. It is debatable whether the e-way Bill is required at all or transport documents, including a copy of the invoice, should suffice."
Source: Dailyshippingtimes.com
