E-way bill generation scaling back to pre-Covid levels, number inching higher with each passing week

An e-way bill is required to be generated by a registered GST taxpayer when goods are moved inter-state if the value of the consignment is more than Rs 50,000.

At 4.27 crore, e-way bills generated in June suggest business activity may be close to pre-lockdown levels when the average was 5.3 crore per month. The average value of consignments in June was Rs 12.4 lakh crore, a shade smaller than the pre-Covid-19 average of Rs 15 lakh crore per month.

Within June, the number of bills generated accelerated each week. This was reflected in the 18.3 lakh forms generated on June 30 against a consignment value of Rs 54,500 crore — both being the highest single-day numbers since the lockdown was enforced. On June 7, only 5.8 lakh e-way bills were generated, the lowest in the month.

An e-way bill is required to be generated by a registered GST taxpayer when goods are moved inter-state if the value of the consignment is more than Rs 50,000. For intra-state movement, the limits vary from state to state.

“E-way bill generation data, one of the prominent indicators of economic activity, has seen a tremendous recovery during the unlock 1.0. The e-way bill generation which used to be around 20 lakh a day, in regular times, had drastically come down after the enforcement of the lockdown,” GSTN said in a release. It added March had witnessed the steepest fall in e-way bill generation plunging to a low of about 0.50 lakh on March 25, the lowest figure on the first day of the nation-wide lockdown. A month on month comparison shows April witnessed a sharp dip as the numbers reached 84.5 lakhs E-way bills for total value of `3.9 lakh crore. “The data substantiates that the Indian economy is gathering pace with the movement of goods rebounding close to pre-lockdown levels and goods and services tax (GST) collections rising sharply,” GSTN said.