The government on Thursday postponed implementation of the e-way bill requirement for movement of consignments in the goods and services tax (GST) regime after technological glitches led to disruption in trade.

The e-way bill, an electronic documentation tracking the movement of goods, was mandatory for all inter-state movement of goods from 1 February.

“In view of difficulties faced by the trade in generating e-way bill due to initial tech glitches, it has been decided to extend the trial phase for generation of e-way bill, both for inter and intra-state movement of goods. It shall be made compulsory from a date to be announced,” the official Twitter handle of the government on GST tweeted.

Businesses had two weeks trial time before the system was due for rollout in February, but policymakers chose to defer implementation to avert technical glitches causing disruption in supply chain at a time GST revenue has started stabilising. Once implemented, e-way bill is needed for all movement of goods—within or outside a state—valued at more than Rs 50,000.