Hyderabad: The state government has extended complete support to the Centre’s decision to go for early implementation of e-way bill for inter-state movement of goods from February 1, and mandatory compliance from June 1, 2018. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday held a GST Council meeting with finance ministers of all States through video conference from New Delhi. Finance minister Etala Rajender attended the meeting from Secretariat and conveyed TS government’s complete support to the e-way bill initiative. Mr Rajender requested him not to bring petroleum products and real estate under GST for a few more months. The decision should be taken after consulting all states, he said.
Under the e-Way Bill system, goods worth more than Rs 50,000 have to be pre registered online before they can be moved from one state to another. The Centre has authorised states to continue their own separate systems till the e-way bill system is in place. Mr Rajender said it was decided that the nationwide e-way bill system will be ready to be rolled out on a trial basis by January 16, when trade and transporters can start using it voluntarily. This will bring uniformity for seamless inter-state movement of goods, Mr Rajender added.
The e-way bill mechanism has been introduced in the GST regime to plug tax evasion loopholes. Tax evasion has been blamed for the fall of GST revenue to Rs 83,346 crore in October from Rs 95,131 crore in September. Telangana state already has a system of e-way bill for intra-state as well as inter-state movement alone with few other states, which can adopt the national e-Way Bill system earlier than other states.
