Indian logistics players concerns over the imposition of e-way bill (an electronic way bill), as the policy determines the validity of the bill depending upon the distance the goods are to travel. Adding to the woes is a rule that every change in the medium of conveyance will require generating new bill, thus making impromptu decision in dire situations, impractical.  

Although the new policy can be received well with the big and organized players, the small transporters and carriers are intimidated with their limitation of computer know-how and internet access.  

Brijesh Lohia, Managing Director of Global Ocean Logistics said, “The Indian logistics sector is mainly unorganized, with small transport carriers being the major share of the pie, particularly in small towns where access to computer and internet is still a challenge. Added burden of learning to use GSTN portal or RFID readers is time consuming and practically implementing while on road can be a daunting task, especially when making spontaneous decisions about conveyances and routes.”

Although, at a first glance the e-way bill seem like evolving from the age old system of way bills which restricts the moving of goods, the compliance requires the person in- charge of conveyance to carry the bill of delivery challan, and a copy of the e-way bill or the e-way bill number, either physically or mapped to a Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) embedded on to the conveyance.

“The entire e-Commerce industry is thriving on logistics, cancellation of orders while the goods are already in the delivery process is not a rare incidence. Thus, a strict compliance of validity of the bill is another concern, as the policy has disregarded situations beyond the transporter’s control when moving goods from one destination to another.” Lohia added. 

In such cases, the e-way generating process requires participation by the supplier, the transporter and even the recipient, which has to communicate its acceptance or rejection of the consignment covered by the e-way bill within the validity.