The move comes a month after the commerce ministry launched a facility for online payment of application fees through credit or debit cards and other electronic fund transfers.
NEW DELHI: In a major push towards easing procedures for business, the Central Board of Excise and Customs is pitching for replacing paper documents in trade with electronic files and use digitally-signed invoices in Central Excise and Service Tax.
In this year's Budget, legal provisions were amended with the twin purpose of providing that the invoices issued by manufacturers or service providers can be digitally signed to enable manufacturers and service providers to store legally-prescribed documents electronically.
The excise body on Wednesday issued a circular to prescribe the procedure and safeguards to be followed. "Besides improving ease of doing business, this initiative is also expected to reduce transaction cost for the business," a finance ministry statement said.
The move comes a month after the commerce ministry launched a facility for online payment of application fees through credit or debit cards and other electronic fund transfers.
The move was also aimed at improving ease of doing business for exporters and importers.
Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia said that the step will help exporters and importers in terms of facilitating the country's trade and reducing their transaction cost.
"We need to be in complete automation for exports. They (traders) should not come to our office. This is a great initiative. This is really going to facilitate our exporters," she said.
