Regulatory compliance in India is increasingly getting more taxing, especially for the movement of goods. One such requirement is the eway bill for intra and inter-state transportation of goods. For large fleet managers and transporters, it often gets difficult to track and know the whereabouts of all vehicles in their fleet. This could cause failure to comply with regulatory requirements, thus attracting heavy fines. In this article, we discuss how an e way bill software combined with logistics process automation could be the answer to all regulatory and non-regulatory issues faced by transporters and suppliers.
The current Eway Bill System explained
What is an e way bill?
An e way bill is a regulatory permit that is required for intra and inter-state movement of goods either by road, air, water, or rail. e way bill generated by a registered business applies to all transportation of goods across state boundaries having a consignment value of more than Rs 50,000. The requirement of an e way bill for intra-state movement of goods varies from state to state.
Who generates Eway Bill for goods?
They require transporters to carry a valid Eway bill under the current eway bill system for transporting goods. In case the supplier or receiver of the goods does not generate it or either of them is unregistered, the onus to generate an e way bill for the goods falls on the transporter. The eway bill contains details of the supplier, the consignment being carried, and detail of the vehicle & transporter.
What does Eway Bill matter for transporters?
In the current e way bill system if the vehicle cannot present a valid eway bill it could also result in the detainment of goods and the seizure of vehicles. This results in operational as well as financial losses for the transporter. This can disrupt the day-to-day operations of the transporter and severely affect their efficiency. The detainment of goods can cause delays in delivery, which can be catastrophic with time-bound goods and hamper the transporter’s reputation. There are several cases of transporters being fined lakhs due to expired or incorrect e way bills.
Challenges with the current Eway Bill system management
In India, an average transporter runs large-scale operations with fleets comprising hundreds of vehicles. These vehicles are engaged in some transportation activity involving multiple stakeholders daily. Some vehicles even carry goods from multiple consignments to increase operational efficiency. In such a scenario, it becomes difficult to keep track of each vehicle and its status without a fleet management or vehicle tracking system which is not implemented by most transporters in India.
The scale of operations coupled with a lack of transparency in the transportation process creates hurdles, making it difficult for transporters to keep track of their entire operations. The consequences of this are late deliveries, higher operational costs, penalties, and seizures because of inefficient e way bill systems put in place.
What issues call for the need for an eway bill software for transporters?
Let’s understand how issues related to the e way bill system result from the inefficiencies within transportation due to lack of transparency and how it affects the transporters. Let’s explore this with a recent example and also understand how an e way bill software and fleet management system can help correct them.
The case
Bhagirathee Transports, a traditional transporter, had 20 trucks on-route between Delhi, Chennai, and Kochi transporting time-sensitive raw materials. Their eway bills, generated by the supplier, were provided to the respective truck driver. On-route, 3 trucks broke down because of poor maintenance, and delivery goods were redistributed to the remaining vehicles part of the trip. As a result, the trucks were flagged at checks for overloading and the vehicles were detained. This led to disruption in production for the receiver as the supplies did not reach on time. In addition to that, the transporter incurred fines of lakhs for the incident.
The problem
- Vehicle maintenance was overlooked before the trip.
- There is a lack of transparency and communication between the drivers and the fleet manager.
- The control room was not notified hence, they did not update or make the necessary changes to the existing e way bill.
- Since the penalty was not paid on time, vehicles were detained resulting in a delay in delivery.
- Substantial loss of revenue and trust for the transporter.
- Inefficiency is arising because of unknown loading and unloading time.
But how could such a scenario be avoided? What could’ve been done differently that would’ve averted such a scenario?
Technology and AI-powered fleet movement are revolutionizing the transportation sector. The Enterprise transport management system is improving visibility and transparency in the process, allowing fleet managers and transporters to make informed decisions. e way bill software system is part of the same ecosystem. Coupled with automated and data-driven fleet management, it is helping transporters centralize eway bill generation and management. The system alerts fleet managers in expiring or incorrect e way bills to take necessary actions that help them avoid penalties and seizures.
Besides that, fleet management services like vehicle tracking, route planning, among others are allowing transporters to conduct their operations in a more organized and transparent manner which is boosting their operational efficiency and reducing cost.
What do e way bill software systems offer?
Taking a data-driven approach, eway bill software systems allow transporters to track eway bills and status for their entire fleet through a centralized system. This allows them to have a better oversight, which has two distinct advantages:
- The e way bill software system centralizes the process of e way bill checks for the entire fleet, allowing fleet managers to have a better overview of the process. This makes it easier for transporters with large fleets to have a more transparent and centralized system in place giving them more control which wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.
- Eway bill software also offers integration with compliance services like FASTag for faster fleet movement across national and state highways in the country. Integrated with FASTag and RFID systems mandated by regulatory authorities, they offer a seamless compliance feature which could be very useful to transporters.
Fleetx’s E way Bill and fleet Management Software
The most interesting feature of being part of Fleetx’s automation ecosystem is the seamless integration of all its software offerings. Fleetx offers a plethora of services for logistic process automation which ranges from services in transport management to e way bill to in-plant logistics, among others. Services from either of these areas can be integrated to offer the most reliable and robust logistics automation system for businesses across industries.
E way Bill integration software with fleet management software
Fleetx uses automatic geo-fence trip detection technology to create jobs in the system for each trip and track loading, unloading, and vehicle movement, among other details. Based on this, the AI assesses whether the e way bill needs to be corrected and updated and accordingly notifies the fleet manager to take action for each vehicle in their fleet.
The AI-delay prediction feature uses vehicle movement and data from previous trips to assess the estimated time the vehicle takes to reach the destination and hence notifies the fleet manager whether they need to update the e way bill for that particular vehicle much in advance.
Should you equip your business with Fleetx’s fleet management and automation solutions?
The clear answer is yes! Fleetx’s offers the most advanced AI-based fleet automation solution in the industry. Its AI-delay prediction and automatic geo-fence system offer the most accurate predictions which set it apart from all other telematics systems out there. Apart from that fleetx’s enterprise solutions for transporters offers an array of automation and technological solutions that could help,
- Improve performance and efficiency of your entire fleet considerably
- Reduce operational costs for transporters by implementing efficient solutions for fuel, route, vehicle, and eway bill management.
- Offers seamless integration with other services like vehicle tracking, route optimisation, driver management, among others for end-to-end automation and tracking of on-route vehicles.
- Offers integration with e way bill software which allows for prompt notification and action for expiring e way bills for on route vehicles.
In conclusion, Fleetx’s fleet automation system offers the most advanced and accurate predictions and action for on-route vehicles. The eway bill software in addition to it makes sure that your vehicle never gets penalized for expiring eway bill again!
