Largest states lead as e-way bill generation climbs, shows data

The number of e-way bills that reportedly hit a record high in August has seen greater traction in states with largest economies, such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka.

These states have seen outgoing and incoming e-way bills rise 38-53 per cent, shows an analysis of data from the government Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) website. The corresponding median figures across states is between 30 per cent and 35 per cent. E-way bill generation for goods moved within the state are roughly the same at 53-54 per cent.

An e-way bill is an electronic document for movement of goods. It is used to check tax evasion and ensure compliance with GST. Generation of e-way bills can rise during periods of higher economic activity and decline when such activity is affected. The analysis above looked at the e-way bill generation across states with comparable data in July 2019 and the latest available July 2022 numbers.

Maharashtra’s incoming e-way bill generation increased 34.6 per cent, outgoing traffic grew 42.7 per cent, and movement of goods within the state jumped 68.4 per cent.

Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Karnataka also had higher than 50 per cent growth for movement of goods within state borders. While Karnataka had the highest e-way bill generation for outgoing traffic (59.6 per cent), Tamil Nadu led for incoming traffic with a 39.8 per cent growth figure in July 2022 compared to July 2019 (chart 1).

The median figure for all states incoming traffic growth was 34.1 per cent. It was 30.3 per cent for outgoing traffic. Movement of goods within states showed 53.6 per cent growth on a median basis.

A government statement on September 1 noted higher GST collections for August, though it did not mention statewise numbers on e-way bill generation.

“The revenues for August 2022 are 28 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year of ~1.12 trillion… For six months in a row now, the monthly GST revenues have been more than the ~1.4 trillion mark. The growth in GST revenue till August 2022 over the same period last year is 33 per cent, continuing to display very high buoyancy,” it said.

There were 75.6 million e-way bills generated during July 2022 (chart 2), according to the data in the September 2022 Bank of Baroda India Economics report from authors including Aditi Gupta, Jahnavi, Dipanwita Mazumdar, and Sonal Badhan.

“On the growth front, domestic indicators remained broadly buoyant…Going forward, however, we expect some moderation might be on the card, as global growth slowdown might impinge on domestic macros sooner or later,” it said.

The pandemic affected states unevenly. At least half-a-dozen states had a lower gross state domestic product in 2020-21 than in 2018-19, according to the data from Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This included states like Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.