E-way bill generation showing green shoots of economic recovery: GSTN

Network says June 30, the last day of Unlock 1.0, ended with generation of 1.83 million E-way bills worth over Rs 54,500 crore, which is the highest since lockdown was enforced

E-way bill generation has signalled that the process of economic recovery has begun, GSTN said on Sunday. The IT infrastructure provider for GST said the data substantiates the indications given by the surge in GST collections in July. 

In a statement, the Network said June 30, the last day of Unlock 1.0, ended with the generation of 1.83 million E-way bills worth over Rs 54,500 crore, which is the highest since the lockdown was enforced.

Bill generation, which used to be around two million a day normally, had drastically come down after the lockdown was enforced. 

March 2020 recorded the steepest fall, plunging to a low of approximately 50,000 on the 25th of the month, the lowest on the first day of the nationwide lockdown, GSTN said.

Month-on-month, April had a sharp dip as the numbers reached 8.45 million bills worth Rs 3.90 trillion totally. As restrictions were eased, the number grew rapidly between May and June. 

"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.

GST collections stood at Rs 90,917 crore in June, recovering from Rs 62,009 crore the previous month and Rs 32,294 crore in April. However, a part of the reason for the surge in collections is that businesses filed the previous months dues in June due to relaxation in the filing schedule given by the government. 

The upwards trend means Unlock 2.0 is going to have more reasons to cheer, the Network said.

"Based on the current trend, it is expected that the cargo movement will further accelerate in the Unlock 2.0, which along with other indicators is a healthy sign of an early economic recovery and stability," it said.

E-way bill is required to be generated by a registered GST taxpayer for the movement of goods if the value of the consignment exceeds Rs 50,000 for inter-state movement. For intra-state movement, limits vary from state to state.