Technical glitches on Thursday forced the government to postpone implementing a system that makes it necessary for traders to have an e-waybill to move goods between states under the Goods and Services Tax regime.

An e-waybill is an electronic permission granted to move goods that have a value greater than Rs 50,000. A national e-waybill system under the GST regime is expected to make the movement of goods across the country smoother by digitising the process of obtaining the permission to do so.

The government has been conducting trials for two weeks, and the rule was to come into force on February 1, Mint reported.

However, the online system issuing the document slowed down and there were reports of the platform crashing. After companies complained that this was stalling the movement of goods, the government decided to postpone the rollout, The Economic Times reported.

In a tweet from its official handle on Thursday, the government said it was extending the trial phase.

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