Introduction of E-Bill system for speedy disbursal of claims by the government contractors from various departments
In the budget 2022, the Finance Minister announced a new concept of the E-Bill processing system to be implemented in the government departments. The goal is to bring more transparency, efficiency, and end-to-end digitization to the government payment system.
On 2nd March 2022, the government rolled out the E-Bill system on a pilot basis in eight ministries. The FM in her speech at the launch announced that this new processing system will be implemented in all the ministries and departments in a phased manner in the FY 2022-23.
This E-Bill processing system will allow the contractors or supplier of government departments to submit their claims against their invoices online using a digital signature. The main objective of this digitized bill processing system is to end "rent-seeking" in the clearance of dues in government departments.
Generally, a government contractor or supplier has to wait for months for payments against their submitted invoices. Even after the submission of the physical invoices along with all attachments, the contractor will have to run from 1 department to another for the clearance. In some cases they were also required to meet officials, seeking the release of their long-pending dues.
However, with this new system, the claimants will not be required to submit physical copies of bills to the departments for scrutiny. The claimants will be able to submit digitally signed bills on the platform and check their clearance status on a real-time basis without approaching any officers.
This system will provide convenience to the contractors and suppliers. Further, this system will reduce the bill payment cycle and will give a more effective audit trail to the officials for record purposes. It can be expected that this new system will reduce the working capital blockage for these contractors or suppliers to a greater extent because of the speedy disbursal of claims.
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