Tungsten Network has become the first e-invoicing provider to offer compliant, paperless invoicing in India.
The announcement comes in response to the demand from large buying organisations on the Tungsten Network who see opportunities in the fast-developing market.
Effective today, Tungsten customers will now have the ability to send and receive legally-compliant electronic invoices for services and excise across India, as well as to create legal invoices for goods in the following eight states: Chandigarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal.
The expansion is a direct result of Tungsten’s tireless efforts to obtain clarification from the Indian government around whether digital signatures are legally permitted to prove the authenticity of invoices. Tungsten received this clarification directly from the Indian government, at both national and state levels, and was supported in its endeavours by partners PriceWaterhouseCoopers and TrustWeaver.
Rick Hurwitz, Tungsten Network CEO, said: “India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and the move from a cumbersome paper-based approach to a frictionless digital model is great news for any business looking to trade with Indian vendors. Our expansion into the country was driven by customers who are looking to conduct more business in this increasingly important region. Now, they will have access to fast, efficient processing while simultaneously reducing the risk of fraud.
“Tungsten’s entry into India also supports the government’s commitment to digitisation as it seeks to tackle corruption and mitigate its vast black economy. Several countries around the world have already embraced e-invoicing to fight fraud and tax evasion, and Tungsten is uniquely positioned to support Indian business and government in its digital development.”
TrustWeaver, a leading vendor of cloud-based trust and compliance services, will provide Tungsten with compliant digital signatures on demand, allowing the Indian tax administration to easily verify that invoices are real and unchanged when they audit a taxpayer.
Christiaan van der Valk, Company President, TrustWeaver, added: “Tungsten becomes our first customer - and to the best of our knowledge the only service provider - to facilitate electronic invoicing in India. We have been working with Tungsten for many years, with the shared goal to help customers trade with confidence and ease, and also awarded Tungsten with the inaugural TrustWeaver verified Trust Mark in recognition of its best-in-class compliance credentials. We are proud to have worked with Tungsten to bring secure, reliable and compliant electronic e-invoicing to this growing new market.”
As the global leader in compliant electronic invoicing, India becomes the 48th country in which the Tungsten Network creates valid, legally accepted documents. Tungsten processes invoices from suppliers in 196 countries.
Hurwitz continues: “We are committed to moving with our Network members and have invested significant time and effort into our global compliance programme to secure agreements with the relevant authorities in each region. The product we have created for India adapts to the different rules and regulations relating to goods invoices of eight states as well as accommodating the entire country for services and excise invoices. This means our customers now have a single e-invoicing and e-archiving service similar to those they use elsewhere in the world.”
The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax regulations (GST) in India, expected later in 2017, will help to provide a consistent set of tax rules and open up the possibilities of e-invoicing to businesses in the country. Hurwitz concluded: “Now we have become the first e-invoicing provider to offer compliant paperless invoicing in India, we will continue to stay close to the Indian authorities in respect to the roll out of GST. We recognise that change is coming and as ever, we will continue to adapt to the market in order to ensure the Tungsten Network continues to meet the needs of our customers.”