Benefits of E-Way bill

1. Government claims VAT collections increased by 15-20% post the imposition of e-

way bills in most states.
2. Digitisation of the documentation process will ensure accountability and easier
verification.
3. Once E-Way bill is implemented , tax avoidance will become difficult and
government will easily spot the mismatch if either supplier or purchaser doesn’t file
the returns.

Issues regarding E-Way bill

1) Validity of E-Way bill : If you have to transport heavy machinery like a Boiler on a
specialized truck, the number of days it may take for it to cover 500 km can be much more
than 10 days which does not match with the validity rule of E-Way bill.

2) IT infrastructure : According to KPMG, Indirect Tax Partner, Priyajit Ghosh, the specific
validity of way bills is a huge problem & the stringent requirements will make things
difficult.
Ghosh also flags off another issue. "The way bills will be a significant challenge in terms of
the IT infrastructure for companies. Unlike a return, a way bill needs to be generated in real
time along with the invoice. Unless a company has the IT system to support and generate way
bills in real time, it will be a huge issue. We have very less time to get the necessary
infrastructure up," says Ghosh .

3) A new e-way bill should be generated whenever the mode of transport of a consignment is
changed. This can be a serious problem for ecommerce companies that use various modes of
transport for delivery of the same item.

4) Another provision says e-way bills generated for goods not transported must be cancelled
within 24 hours. They cannot be cancelled if verified during transit.

5) The fact that it can all be done online aligns well with the dream of a digitised economy.
But realistically speaking, ensuring that every transporter - especially in the smaller towns -
knows how to use the GSTN portal properly will be a headache for the government.

6) Internet connectivity in India, especially while on the go, is also an issue so there is no
guarantee that transporters will be able to use the GSTN portal to address their grievances (If
any) while on the road. The same goes for the RFIDs and RFID readers. The idea of an
automatic mode of verification for transport vehicles at major checkpoints seems very ideal,
but ensuring this delivers may be difficult.

7) Blue Dart also flagged the lack of clarity in handling multi-modal transport of goods since
an e-way bill would be required for air and rail transport of goods as well.
8) “However, the requirement of securing e-way bill for inspection by GST officials in transit
seems a dilution, as this is likely to lead to interception of vehicles in all inter-State and intra-
State movement of goods,” said K Satyanarayana, Co-founder and Director, Ecom Express
Private Ltd.

Ecom Express said that unforeseen circumstances leading to transfer of goods from one
vehicle to another may nullify the earlier e-way bill and transporters would have to create a
new e-way bill on the GSTN portal before moving ahead.

In case of third party logistics providers, for consignment value exceeding Rs. 50,000, the
sender as well as the transporter will have to upload details to generate an e-way bill,
Satyanarayana added.

Furthermore, Ecom Express had concerns on the rigid timelines regarding e-way bills as
emergencies can arise in the course of transport, triggering delays in transit beyond the
specified number of days leading to tracking etc.

Advantages To various Companies:

1) Chander Aggarwal, MD of TCI Express spoke about the latest happenings in his company
and sector .According to him E-Way bill will be of benefit to organised sector , as it will
slowly weed out the unorganised segment which is a major revenue loss factor for the
government. He added that if the unorganised players cannot keep up with any of these GST
changes or the e-way bill then the customers would get affected and they would want
organised players like us to come in and provide them the services.

He also mentioned that Biggest client is the automobile component sector & revenue growth
would be around 18-20 percent and margin growth would be around close to 40 percent for
this fiscal year for his organisation.

He also said that the provision will benefit the government and transporters. “While it allows
government to keep a tab on the movement of goods to be transported, it will also allow
transporters to file a complaint if the vehicle is detained for a period exceeding 30 minutes.
The e-way bill portal allows the transporter, supplier and the recipient to be on a single
platform through which tracking of goods will be enabled through Radio Frequency
Identification,”

As an organised player he also believe that this move by the government will help to
regularise the unorganised sector as well as curb malpractices.

2) Jugnoo, a start-up, also welcomed E-Way bills and even said it was planning to launch
“something in this domain”. Samar Singla, CEO and Founder, Jugnoo said
“Recommendation of e-way bills for inter-State movement of goods is a remarkable initiative
as it will enable standardisation of processes and bring transparency in the system. This
proposal has immense potential to completely root out the corrupt practices in this sector,”

3) Anjani Mandal, CEO and co-founder, 4TiGO, another start up, said: “The advance
declaration of goods being carried to authorities creates the platform and grounds for "low-
risk" consignments to be treated differently and let through all check-posts.”
4) "The introduction of the e-way bill would not only help the tax authorities to monitor inter-
state and intra-state movement of goods but also help reduce transportation time by reducing
loss of time at check posts. It is also expected to help the dealers who do inter-state
transactions in multiple states as the e-way bill process will now be common across states.
However, to avoid any issues on the ground, the government can consider some field trials on
test basis before implementation," said R Muralidharan, senior director, Deloitte India.

5) Ansh Bhargava, head-growth and strategy at Taxmann while acknowledging the

advantages of the new implementation opined that the success of the same is largely
dependent on the efficiency of the GST Network (GSTN) and other such factors.
The success of e-way bill implementation again depends upon the quick response of GSTN
and the other facilities from GSTN would be highly appreciable if the e-way bill facility is
provided on the mobile app so that taxpayers find it convenient .

Updates :
The Bihar government has flagged implementation concerns surrounding the e-way bill,
asking for a 24-hour troubleshooting mechanism and setting up a helpdesk before rolling out
the system.