E-Way Bills’ Generation Increases, Indicates Spurt in Consumption, GST Receipts

In the first 13 days of February, the number of e-way bills generated for inter-state trade in goods under the goods and services tax (GST) system was 23.59 lakh per day, up 14 percent from the first 16 days of the previous month, indicating a pick-up in commerce following the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

In January, the number of e-way bills generated fell by 4% month over month to 22.2 lakh, down from 23.1 lakh in December. In the first 13 days of February, e-way bills totaled 3.07 crore.

The creation of e-way invoices is a proxy for GST income.

In January (December sales), gross GST revenues reached Rs 1.41 lakh crore, the largest mop-up in the history of the comprehensive indirect tax, which was established in July 2017.

Despite the fact that e-way bill generation fell by 4% in January compared to December, recent trends suggest that GST revenues for February (January sales) will be approximately Rs 1.3 lakh crore.

The highest monthly statistics for bill generation was 7.35 crore in October, attributable to a surge in products dispatches for stocking ahead of the festive season by retailers and traders.