Finally, the Central Government has notified the much awaited E-way Bill Rules, 2017 under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.
The GST Council, the apex body of the new indirect tax law, on the first week of August had approved the Bill. However, it took almost three weeks to notify the rules.
Under GST rules, ferrying goods worth more than Rs 50,000 within or outside a state will require securing an e-way bill by prior online registration of the consignment.
To generate an e-way bill, the supplier and transporter will have to upload details on the GSTN portal, after which a unique e-way bill number (EBN) will be made available to the supplier, the recipient and the transporter on the common portal.
Though India has switched to the GST regime from 1st July 2017, the e-way bill provisions were not implemented due to lack of technical support.
Some items such as vegetables, fruits, food grains, meat, bread, curd, books and jewellery out of its ambit.
Contraceptives, judicial and non-judicial stamp paper, newspapers, khadi, raw silk, Indian flag, human hair, kajal, earthen pots, cheques, municipal waste, puja samagri, LPG, kerosene, heating aids and currency will also be outside the ambit of the e-way bill. The date from which the e-way bill would come into effect would be notified separately.
It is presumed that E-way bills, when implemented, will help central and state tax authorities to keep an eye on factory output and inter-state commerce and provide data relating to consumption of goods, which is useful in policy making.
Read the full text of the Notification below.
