Demand decline: Daily e-way bill generation falls post-festive season

All India Transporters Welfare Association (AITWA) joint secretary Abhishek Gupta told FE.

Daily e-way bill generation for goods transportation under the goods and services tax (GST) system came in at 18.8 lakh for the first 21 days of November, 17% lower than the daily average for the first 24 days of October, reflecting slackening of demand post-festival season.

The daily average for the first 24 days of October was 22.68 lakh, 3.8% higher than the daily average for the first 26 days of September. Between November 1 and 21, as many as 3.95 crore e-way bills were generated.

E-way bill stood at a record 7.35 crore for October, the highest monthly data since the indirect tax regime was rolled out in July 2017, reflecting an upswing in economic activities in the festival season and improved compliance.
Usually, e-ways bills generation slows down post-festival season. E-ways bill generation had declined by 11% to 5.77 crore in November 2020 compared with the previous month. “This is normal phenomena after the festival season,”

All India Transporters Welfare Association (AITWA) joint secretary Abhishek Gupta told FE.

E-way bill generation by businesses rose to 6.79 crore in September from 6.59 crore in August and from 6.42 crore in July. It was 7.12 crore for March before the second wave of Covid-19 hit economic activities. Higher e-way bills generation is reflected in higher GST revenues. GST collections came in at Rs 1.17 lakh crore in September (largely August transactions), up 23% y-o-y and 4.5% m-o-m, signalling a sustained pick-up in trade and commerce. It stood at Rs 1.3 lakh crore in October (September sales), the second-highest mop-up in the history of the comprehensive indirect tax that was launched in July 2017.