The Goods and Services Tax (GST) E- Way Bill system has notified the mandatory 2- factor authentication for E-Way Bill and E-Invoice System for the taxpayers having Annual Aggregate Turnover (AATO) of Rs. 20 crore and above with effect from November 20, 2023.
To bolster the security of the e-Way Bill and e-Invoice System, NIC is implementing Two-Factor Authentication for accessing the system. Alongside the traditional username and password, an OTP (One-Time Password) will also be required for authentication during the login process.
There are 3 different ways of receiving the OTP. You may enter any of the OTP and login to the system. The various modes of generating OTP are explained below:
1. SMS: OTP will be sent to your registered mobile number as SMS.
2. On ‘Sandes’ app: Sandes is a messaging app provided by the government so that you can send and receive messages. You may download and install the Sandes app on your registered mobile number and receive the OTP in it.
3. Using ‘NIC-GST-Shield’ app: ‘NIC-GST-Shield’ is a mobile app provided by e-Way Bill /e-Invoice System, so that OTP can be generated by using the app. This app can be downloaded only from the e-Waybill / e-Invoice portal from the link ‘Main Menu2-Factor Authentication. Install NIC-GST-Shield’. Download, install and register this app on your registered mobile number. You should ensure the time displayed in the app should be in sync with e- Waybill / e-Invoice system. On opening the app, OTP is displayed. You may enter this OTP and continue the authentication. The OTP gets refreshed after every 30 seconds. You will not require the internet or any dependency on mobile networks for generating the OTP on this app.
Registration for 2-Factor Authentication:
On logging to e-Waybill System go to Main Menu 2 Factor Authentication and confirm the registration. Once confirmed, the system will ask OTP along with username and password. The OTP authentication is based on individual user accounts. The sub users of GSTIN will have separate authentication depending on their registered mobile number in the e-Way Bill/ e- Invoice System. Once you have registered for 2 Factor authentication, then the same is applicable for both e-Way bill and e-Invoice system.
Creation of sub-users:
For better management of e-waybills, main users may create sub-users and mobile numbers of the sub-user may be updated accordingly. The sub-user may be granted permissions to generate e-waybill or cancel e-waybill or all the options. Further, the activities of the sub-users may be monitored by the main-user on a regular basis.
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