E-way bill to be effective from February 1, 2018

The Goods and Service Tax (GST) council has given approval for introduction of the much awaited e-way Bill. The council in its 24th meeting today, has decided that the new system will be rolled out on trial basis from January 16, 2018. The e-way bill  will ease the movement of freight further. Goods worth more than Rs 50,000 will require online registration and the receipt would act as a goods ticket for the entire journey.

Before today’s announcement the state government were allowed to continue their own separate e-way bill system, but with the hardships being faced for the inter-state moemenet of goods, a representation was made by the traders and transporters to address the issue. The council has announced that the new system will come into force from February 1, 2018.

The trial roll-out will allow traders and transporters to start using this system on a voluntary basis from 16th January, 2018. The introduction of e-way bill is done with an aim to bring uniformity across the states for seamless inter-state movement of goods. 
The GST council also informed that while the system for both inter-state and intra-state e-way Bill generation will be ready by January16, 2018, the states can choose their own timings for implementation of e-way Bill for intra-State movement of goods on any date before June 1, 2018.

It further stated that certain states which already had the system of e-way Bill for intra-state as well as inter-state movement and some of those states can be early adopters of national e-way Bill system for intra-state movement also. The council has announced that the pan-India implementation will be done by June 1, 2018.

Also read: Transport efficiency up by 30% thanks to GST: PM Narendra Modi