E-way bill generation sees a sharp increase in July hinting at recovery

As of July 18, more than 35.5 million e-way bills were issued showing a daily average of more than 1.97 million.

On a like to like basis, July numbers are higher than June 1-20, during which 33.7 million e-way bills were generated, with a daily average of 1.68 million. Daily average in June was 1.82 million for 54.6 million e-way bills for the month.

The numbers are also higher than May when daily average was 1.28 million for the full month and e-way bill generation was 39.9 million, the lowest since June 2020 as states imposed tight restrictions to curb rising Covid cases.

E-way bills are required for the transportation of goods of more than Rs 50,000 in value across the country.

An uptrend in July data also indicates better revenues for the government with states lowering restrictions, lifting lockdowns and reduced number of Covid cases amid the second wave.

“The sharp increase in e-way bills would indicate an accelerated recovery in the movement of goods, giving rise to expectations of improved GST collections,” said MS Mani, senior director at Deloitte India.

The total value of e-way bills for the month till June 20 amounted to Rs 10.58 lakh crore. In May, e-way bills worth Rs 14.15 lakh crore were generated, lower than Rs 17.34 lakh crore in April.

Some however flagged that while eway bills have shown a solid recovery in July it may still take time for bills to reach peak levels seen earlier in the year.

“By the end of the month, we expect the daily average for July to surpass the April 2021 level. However it would still lag the strong performance of February-March indicating an incomplete recovery,” cautioned Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ratings agency

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In February, 63.8 million e-way bills were generated, which increased to 71.2 million in March – for a value of Rs 19.94 lakh crore -the highest ever since the beginning of electronic bill generation.