E-Way Bills And RFID

What Is E-Way Bill?

E-Way Bill (EWB) is an electronic document generated on the EWB portal to facilitate the movement of goods valuing more than INR 50,000. The e-way bills have to be generated before the commencement of transportation of goods and are valid only for one day if the distance to be travelled less than 100 km. However, for every additional 100 km, an extra one day is added to the validity of the e-Way Bill. EWB contains two parts. The Part-A has to be furnished by the registered person who is causing the movement of goods (usually supplier), and part B (transport details) is to be furnished by the person who is transporting the goods. Once the e-Way Bill is generated, a unique e-way bill number (EBN) will be shared with the supplier, the recipient and the transporter through the portal. During transportation, the person in charge of the conveyance should carry:

• The invoice/bill of supply/delivery challan and
• A copy of the e-Way Bill or the e-Way Bill number (physical copy or mapped to a

Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) embedded on the conveyance).

What Are RFIDs?

RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification Device used for identification. These devices use radio waves to detect/identify objects. As and when notified by the Government, the Commissioner in-charge may require a specific class of persons to embed RFIDs on the windscreen of the conveyance. Furthermore, it will be the responsibility of the Commissioner to get RFID readers installed at places where the verification of movement of goods is required to be carried out. Through these readers, the verification of movement can be done when the e-way bill is mapped with the device.

How Does RFID Work With EWB?

With reference to EWBs, an RFID tag is an embedded device that has to be attached to the conveyance. This tag contains all the details of EWB and can be read by the official RFID readers installed at check-points. When the conveyance passes the reader, the reader will detect the details pre-fed in the device and upload the information captured on the Government Portal and electronically verify the same. Thus, without stopping the truck/vehicle/conveyance, the Government can verify the correctness/genuineness of the movement of the goods in the conveyance and eliminate manual interference to a large extent.

How To Install RFID?

RFID can be installed by visiting any of the authorised distribution centres assigned for each jurisdiction across India. Uttar Pradesh was the first state which implemented the use of RFID tag. The list of distribution centres in Uttar Pradesh can be found here.