How Does the e-Way Bill in India Work?

The e-Way Bill is an electronic document used to declare the transfer of merchandise in India. Its implementation greatly simplified the movement of goods in the country through the homogenization and digitalization of merchandise declarations. This document is obligatory to transfer merchandise throughout the country.

The e-Way Bill and the electronic invoice are electronic tax control mechanisms developed by the Good and Services Tax Council (GSTC), the agency responsible for the management of taxes in India. Both mechanisms derive from the Good and Service Tax (GST) system, and their objective to direct India towards a single digitalized market.

However, the government has observed that taxpayers generating electronic delivery notes do not link them to electronic invoices for B2B and B2E operations. This can lead to confusion and discrepancies between the dispatch advise and the invoice.

Therefore, to avoid these situations, starting on March 1, 2024, it will be mandatory to include invoice-related data in the e-Way Bill. This update will affect taxpayers enabled for electronic invoicing and for transactions related to B2B supplies and exports. For other transactions such as B2C and non-supplies, they will operate as usual without any changes.

Whether your company already works with electronic invoicing in India or not, at EDICOM, we can automate the creation of both electronic documents and link them according to the requirements of the Indian government.

How does the e-Way Bill process work?

The e-Way Bill is generated through the electronic portal of the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN).

To create the e-Way Bill the issuer must be registered in the GST platform and must then register in the e-Way Bill platform.

This document can be generated by the logistics company carrying the merchandise, the driver, the owner of the merchandise or the recipient of the merchandise. It is used for the land, air, and maritime transport of merchandise.

This document can be generated by the consignee company of the goods transportation, the carrier, or the sender or recipient of the goods. The e-Way Bill is created before the movement of the goods begins, whether by land, air, or sea transport. Each document is identified with a number (EBN) which is made available to the involved parties: supplier, recipient, and carrier who can consult it on the GSTN portal.

The e-Way Bill document is composed of parts A and B.

1. Part A includes the issuer’s and recipient’s identification data (GSTIN); the document’s expiration date; merchandise origin and destination; value of merchandise and reason for transport.
2. Part B is comprised of data associated to the transport and logistics carrier.

The advantages of the e-Way Bill system are:

• Reduction of tax evasion.
• Homogenization of the logistics system in all of India.
• Traceability of merchandise from origin to destination.
• Easier control of merchandise for the authorities.
• More control of logistic operation for all parties involved: suppliers, recipients and logistics operators.
• Faster processes