E-way bill system from February 1, trials from January 16

BENGALURU: A nationwide e-way bill system will be rolled out on a trial basis from 16 January 2018 and on a nationwide basis from 1 February 2018, two months ahead of schedule. This decision was taken at the 24th meeting of the GST council held on Saturday in which members participated through video conference. 

Talking about the decision to advance the implementation of e-way bills, deputy chief minister of Bihar and head of a panel appointed to resolve technology glitches, Sushil Kumar Modi, said, "There was a shortfall in revenue of around Rs 10000 crore in October when compared to September. One of the reasons for the revenue shortfall as listed by states was the lack of check-posts and illegal transactions. As a result, it was decided to advance the launch of the system."

According to Modi, trials would begin from 16 January and traders could use the system voluntarily from this date. 

"From February 1, the system will be enforced for inter-state transport of goods and for intra-state transport, states will have time until June 1 for implementation," he said. The system, which was launched as a pilot in Karnataka in September, has seen 1.20 lakh invoices being generated daily. "We hope that leakages will be checked and state revenue will be increased once the system is in place," he said. 

The e-bill system will be operationalised by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). "We have paid Rs 40 crore as an advance to the NIC and they have given us a presentation on the system today," Modi said. However, when asked why IT major Infosys was not given the job of rolling out the e-bill system, Modi said that the decision was in no way a criticism of Infosys and was taken by the GST council.

"We are fully satisfied with Infosys and the GST network, complaints have reduced by 80 per cent as the system is now stabilising. Around 65 crore invoices have been processed till now and the number of payments is 1.40 crore," Modi said. Explaining how the GST process was being simplified for small taxpayers, Modi said that for those who file returns with zero tax liability, there would be a qualifying question where they could indicate that they had no tax liability. "This will take them directly to the submit returns page instead of having to go through 12-13 more pages. Currently, taxpayers with a turnover of less than Rs 1.5 crore contribute 5.5 per cent of the revenue. They must get a user-friendly interactive mode," he said.