Ludhiana: In a shock to city businessmen, the notification of doubling the e-way bill exemption limit to Rs 1 lakh, which expired on September 12, has still not been renewed.
Businessmen said they felt cheated by the Punjab government.
Bhushan Abbi, president of Knit and Fab Cluster, Ludhiana, said, “Last year, we were promised that e-way bill exemption limit enhancement from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh would be made permanent, but nothing has been done till now. Everyone has forgotten the promise. It’s been two months since the notification expired. Exemption limit of Rs 50,000 for e-way bills within the state is very less for micro and small industry and will prove to be disastrous. How does the government expect less educated and aged businessmen like me to comply with this e-way bill diktat. Moreover, we cannot afford to buy a computer, printer and install internet for generating e-way bills. And we can also not hire a person trained in computers to fill the online forms. If the limit is kept at Rs 1 lakh, all our transactions will be covered as there is only a small number of businessmen in our category whose single transactions are above Rs 1 lakh.”
Inderjit Singh Navyug, former president of United Cycle and Parts’ Manufacturers’ Association, said, “It is sad that the Congress government on one hand projects itself as the well-wisher of the business community and on the other overlooks our pain. For the past two months, the exemption limit has been brought back to Rs 50,000 and neither the finance minister nor the industry minister has done anything. Our businesses are getting affected badly as we are avoiding doing sales of more than Rs 50,000 just because we don’t want to get into the tangle of complicated e-way bill system.”
Meanwhile, a senior state taxation official confirmed to the TOI that since no directions have come from the head office for limit enhancement, officials will penalise businessmen not complying with the norms of the e-way bill exemption limit of Rs 50,000 per bill within state.
What is e-way bill
Under this system, businessmen have to upload details of every sale bill involving goods valued above Rs 50,000. The system has been made mandatory for movement of goods within and out of the state. Without uploading the bill before transportation, the seller is liable to pay 200% penalty on GST value of the invoice.
Published On : 18-11-2019
Source : Times of India
