India Inc frets over supply mismatches due to launch of e-invoicing in Oct

Says frequent changes in format prevent companies from preparing for it, fears drop in GST collections if made mandatory

Companies fear disruption of their operations because of e-invoicing under the goods and services tax (GST) system, which is to be kicked off on Thursday, and they have demanded that it be made voluntary initially.
 
Under the system, firms with annual turnover of over Rs 500 crore have to raise e-invoices through a unique invoice reference portal and generate the IRN (invoice reference number) from October 1. Failing this, they will not be able to move goods for business-to-business (B2B) transactions. For business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions, they have to fix QR code, which is to be generated by companies.