|
GST: Government bets big on tech to ensure e-way
bill does not bring back inspector raj
NEW DELHI:
The proposed e-way bill for moving goods within the
country would rely heavily on technology, employing RFID
chips and QR codes, to ensure that monitoring of goods
movement does not bring back inspector raj and slow down
goods traffic on highways, officials said.
After the launch of the
goods and services tax (GST) on July 1, the movement of
commercial goods had got speeded up as states abolished
entry check posts.
Under the new tax regime,
a document called e-way bill, or electronic way bill, is
required to transport any good worth more than Rs
50,000. The e-way bill is proposed as a permit of sorts
in electronic format, which will have details of the
goods carried on a vehicle. The industry has been
apprehensive that such a document will revive inspector
raj, undermining the gains achieved by the abolition of
check posts.
"Effort is to have high technology interface," said a
government official, adding that it would ensure that
all data regarding an e-way bill is captured on it.
Having it embedded on RFID chip or a QR code will help
in checking these in a non-intrusive manner without
holding up a vehicle. "These would be checked with
hand-held devices or RFID chip readers," the official
said.
|
|
A group of officers from state and union finance
ministry will work on the tech and design of e-way bill,
the person said. According to the proposed framework,
GST Network will generate e-way bills that will remain
valid for one to 15 days, depending on the transport
distance. One-day permit will be for a distance up to
100 km while a 15-day permit will allow more than 1,000
km transit, as per the proposed law. A tax officer can
intercept any conveyance to verify the e-way bill or the
physical goods for all inter-state and intra-state
movement of goods.
Rules governing the e-way bill have not yet been
approved by the GST Council and are expected to be taken
up when it meets next month on August 5.
Express Industry Council of India (EICI), which
represents small and large express delivery service
companies engaged in domestic and international door to
door transport services of parcels and documents, had
expressed concerns about it, saying it could prove a
logistical challenge.
Source::: The
Economic Times,
dated 14/07/2017
|