On Friday, over 80 days after its launch on April 1, e-way bill generation hit the 10-crore mark.
“Ten crore e-Way bills in two months and 21 days and still it is showing an upward trend,” Prakash Kumar, CEO of the GST Network, the backbone for the Goods and Services Tax (GST), told BusinessLine .
The e-Way bill system for inter-State trade was introduced on April 1, while that for intra-State was rolled out in phases. Interestingly, the e-Way bill generation for intra-State trade is higher than that for inter-State trades.
The e-Way bill is now in use for all States and Union Territories.
The bill, which is a kind of document required to be carried by the person in charge of a consignment of goods of value exceeding ₹ 50,000, is generated from the GST Common Portal. The consignor or consignee, as a registered person or a transporter of the goods can generate the e-Way bill.
The validity of the e-Way bill depends on the distance the goods have to be transported.
The new system started with a daily generation of 8 lakh e-Way bills, while now more than 20 lakh can be generated, the GSTN Chief Executive added.
“Whatever suggestions have come from tax payers, we have implemented them. Just like the GST Council, we, too, have tried to be responsible. Only thing is we have to develop code and test that then only we can implement that,” Kumar said.
Asked if the threshold for generating e-Way bill would be lowered, Kumar said it was for the GST Council to decide. “For us, it would only mean changing computer software from ₹50,000 to, say, ₹30,000.”