KATHMANDU, July 30: A total of 6,172 companies have signed up for vehicle, consignment tracking system (VCTS) as of Monday.
Companies involved in trading and manufacturing as well as importers, wholesalers, transporters and custom agents, among others, have joined the VCTS, according to officials of Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI).
The government had made VCTS mandatory for traders, transporters and wholesalers, among others, from July 17. Following pressure from traders and other stakeholders, the government has delayed mandatory enforcement of the system by three months. However, interested traders, transporters and wholesalers can joint VCTS and get familiar with the new system.
A company having branches and warehouses in different places of the country can create multiple representative users having the authority to track the consignment. So, far DRI has issued 20,382 user IDs to 6,172 companies.
DRI monitoring 20,000 vehicles daily through VCTS
Similarly, altogether 68,144 consignments have been registered in the VCTS as of Monday. A total of 5,875 consignments were registered in the system on Monday alone.
Data compiled by the DRI shows 2,242 traders, 1,925 industries/manufacturers, 994 importers, 492 wholesalers, 204 transportation companies, 156 custom agents and 159 in other categories have signed up with the VCTS as of Monday.
Under VCTS, wholesalers, dealers, importers and industries that send product directly to customers are required to be associated with the new system. Transport companies need to prepare a manifesto of goods that they transport. Earlier, they used to prepare manifesto manually. But everything will be done by the computerized system now onward.
"VCTS is designed to benefit all parties of the trade -- traders, government and consumers. It will maintain transparency in the trade fraternity and contributes to development and expansion of trade in the country as well has help to widen the tax net," Dirgha Raj Mainali, director general at Department of Revenue Investigation, said. “Customers will get bills and invoices of the goods they purchase.”
Under the VCTS, movement of consignments can be tracked on real-time basis. Details like nature of goods, number of motor vehicles carrying goods, number plate of motor vehicles and name of the driver, Permanent Account Number (PAN) of both sellers and buyers, and cost of the products have to be entered into the system. Upon entry of the details, the system will produce a manifesto with a QR code that can be scanned for details of the consignment.
According to Mainali, the VCTS will prevent revenue leakage and foster healthy competition amongst businesses.
Earlier, truckers were required to submit manifesto of goods, bills and invoices, among other documents, at check posts of DRI. "It used to create hassles as everything had to be done manually. There will be no such hassles in the VCTS. It will also decrease cost for traders," he added.
The DRI has already removed all its 10 check posts as part of enforcing the VCTS.
"We can produce integrated data by computing details fed into VCTS. It helps in compilation of national trade statistics as the system records real time data,” he added.According to Mainali, the discussion regarding implementation of VCTS was initiated from mid-March. "It was enforced from July 17. Though it is not mandatory for next three months, stakeholders can join the VCTS and get familiar with the new system," he added.
The VCTS will be mandatory from mid-October. According to DRI, entrepreneurs will be liable to fines of up to Rs 50,000 for the first time and Rs 75,000 for the second time if they do not abide by the rules laid down in the VCTS. The director general of the DRI has the authority to take action against those who do not join the system within next three months.
Meanwhile, the DRI has been providing orientation on usage of the system to stakeholders concerned. “We have been going to different organizations for orientation as per their request,” added Mainali.
