The number of e-way bills generated for inter-state trade in goods under the goods & services tax (GST) system stood at 23.59 lakh a day in the first 13 days of February, 14% higher than in the first 16 days of the previous month, reflecting a pick-up in commerce after the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 subsided.
Generation of e-way bills had declined 4% on month to 22.2 lakh in January, compared with 23.1 lakh in December. E-way bills stood at 3.07 crore in the first 13 days of February.
E-way bills generation is a proxy of GST revenues.
Gross GST collections came in at Rs 1.41 lakh crore in January (December sales), the highest mop-up in the history of the comprehensive indirect tax that was launched in July 2017.
Even though e-way bills generation has declined by 4% in January over December, the GST collections could still be around Rs 1.3 lakh crore for February (January sales) going by the recent trend.
Bills generation at 7.35 crore in October was the highest monthly data, thanks to a spurt in goods dispatches for stocking ahead of the festival season by shopkeepers and traders.
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