E-way bill generation hits a new high in January, shows GSTN data

In December last year, e-way bill had hit the second highest level at 112 million, after it peaked earlier at 117.2 million in October due to the festive season

The eway bills, or electronic permits, generated by businesses for transporting goods within and across states, grew 23.1 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in January to reach a record 118.1 million, according to data released by the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) portal.

 

In December last year, eway bills stood at 112 million, second highest so far, after they peaked earlier at 117.2 million in October due to the festival season.  

 

Eway bills are mandatory for the movement of consignments worth more than Rs 50,000 and are, therefore, an early indicator of demand and supply trends in the economy. This often reflects in macroeconomic indicators with a lag.

 

The momentum in eway bill generation in January is expected to show up in the GST collection data for February, which will be released on March 1.

 

While intrastate eway bills hit a new high at 76 million in January, interstate eway bills are still second highest at 42.1 million, behind the October 2024 level of 42.8 million. 

 

According to GSTN data, there are 15 million registered GST payers, with 1.6 billion eway bills generated so far.

 

The eway bill performance tallies with the HSBC India manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI), which rose to a six-month high in January, recovering sharply from 12-month low in December. However, PMI services slumped to the slowest in more than two years as demand softened but remained strong and led to a substantial rate of hiring.

 

According to data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (Fada), sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in the country surged 19.4 per cent month-on-month and 17.1 per cent Y-o-Y to 169,931 units in January.

 

The Reserve Bank of India has projected the Indian economy to grow at 6.8 per cent in the March quarter of FY25, recovering from a seven-quarter low of 5.4 per cent in the preceding September quarter.