New e-Bill system: Big step towards ease of doing business in India
The new system is expected to simplify the process of submission and backend processing of bills by making it completely paperless and transparent.
FollowIn a major step forward in realizing the vision of 'Digital India' and promoting ease of doing business, a new e-Bill system to enable paperless submission of accounts and end-to-end digital processing of bills was unveiled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The new system is expected to simplify the process of submission and backend processing of bills by making it completely paperless and transparent.
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Previously, the government vendors and suppliers of goods and services had to submit self-attested physical copies of their bills to the respective government department. At the same time, the government staff have to submit hard copies of their claims. At the backend too, currently, bills are processed through physical and digital modes. Not only do the government vendors or their representatives need to visit the offices to deliver bills, they also find it difficult to track the processing status of their bills.
The new e-Bill system will completely overhaul this. It aims to achieve efficiency and transparency in the system through the following:
* Eliminate physical interface between government officials and suppliers.
* Gives government vendors or suppliers the convenience of submitting their bills/claims from anywhere at any given point in time.
* Processing of claims or bills becomes much more efficient.
* Discretion in processing bills through the 'First-In-First-Out' (FIFO) method will become more convenient.
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Government vendors or suppliers can now upload their bills online along with supporting documents from their homes or offices at any time with a digital signature. In case a vendor does not have a digital signature, the facility to e-sign using Aadhaar has also been provided.
The vendors can also track the status of their electronic bill processing online following which the payments will be credited digitally to their bank accounts.
Developed by the Public Financial Management System division of the finance ministry, the citizen-centric e-Bill system will be rolled out in a phased manner. So far, the option has been made available for nine Pay and Accounting Units in the ministries of Finance, Food Processing Industry, Chemical and Fertiliser, Science and Technology, New and Renewable Energy, Ministry of Home Affairs (Census), Steel and Electronics and Information Technology.
