An e-way bill (electronic way bill) is a document which is required to be carried by a person in charge of the shipment carrying any consignment of goods of value exceeding Fifty Thousand Rupees as mandated by the Government under the GST regime. An e-way bill can also be generated or cancelled through Android Application, SMS and site to site integration through API. Once an e-way bill is generated, a unique e-way bill number (EBN) is allocated and it is available to the supplier, recipient and transporter.
Prerequisites for the generation of e-way bill:
- Registration on E-way bill portal
- The challan/invoice/bill related to the consignment of goods must be in hand
- If transport by road- Vehicle number or transporter ID
- If transport by air, rail or ship- Transport document number, date on the document and the transporter ID
The e-way bill is required for the transportation of all goods except which are exempted under the Notifications or rules. Movement of handicraft goods or goods for job-work purposes under specified conditions also requires e-way bill even if the value of total consignment is less than Rupees Fifty Thousand only.
It is generated from the GST Common Portal for E-way bill system by the registered persons or transporters who manage the movement of goods of consignment before commencement of such movements.
In movement of export goods, following points are to be noted:
In case of exports if the consignor or consignee is unregistered taxpayer does not have the GSTIN, then the user has to apply as ‘URP’ [Unregistered Person] in the corresponding GSTIN column.
- In EWB-01, in place of delivery column, generally pin code of the place is entered but in case of exports to a foreign country “999999” is entered in “EWB-01” field.
- The estimated distance for movement of consignment from the source to destination has to be considered based on the distance within the country. That is, in the case of export, the consignor’s place to the place from where the consignment is leaving the country, after customs clearance and in case of import, the place where the consignment has reached the country to the destination place and cleared by Customs.
- Sometimes, the tax payer raises the bill to A and sends the consignment to B as per the business needs. There is a provision in the e-way bill system to handle situations like these, called as ‘Bill to’ and ‘Ship to’. In the e-way bill form, there are two portions under ‘TO’ section. In the left-hand side - ‘Billing To’, GSTIN and trade name is entered and in the right-hand side - ‘Ship to’, address of the destination of the movement is entered. The other details are entered as per the invoice.
- In case ship to state is different from Bill to State, the tax components are entered as per the billing state party. That is, if the Bill to location is inter-state for the supplier, IGST is entered and if the Bill to Party location is intra-state for the supplier, the SGST and CGST are entered irrespective of movement of goods whether movement happened within state or outside the state.
- Sometimes, the supplier prepares the bill from his business premises to consignee, but moves the consignment from some other premises to the consignee as per the business requirements. This is known as ‘Billing From’ and ‘Dispatching From’. E-way bill system has provision for this. In the e-way bill form, there are two portions under ‘FROM’ section. In the left-hand side - ‘Bill From’ supplier’s GSTIN and trade name are entered and in the right-hand side - ‘Dispatch From’, address of the dispatching place is entered. The other details are entered as per the invoice. In case Bill From location State is different from the State of Dispatch the Tax components are entered as per the State (Bill From). That is, if the billing party is inter-state for the supplier, IGST is entered and if the billing party is intra-state for the supplier, the SGST and CGST are entered irrespective of movement of goods whether movement happened within state or outside the state.
Status of implementation across India:
There has been a rise in the number of e-way bills generated for the inter-state movement of goods since its implementation dated 1st April, 2018. However, the reliefs have been provided to the people of few states by way of exempting them from e-way bill generation in case the monetary limits fall below the threshold amount or exempted modes of transportation.
Validity of E-way Bill:
An e-way bill is valid for the periods listed below; it is based on the distance travelled. Validity is calculated on the basis of the date and time of generation of the e-way bill.
Type of conveyance |
Distance |
Validity of EWB |
For over dimensional cargo |
Less Than 20 Kms |
1 Day |
For every additional 20 Kms or part thereof |
Additional 1 Day |
Other than Over dimensional cargo |
Less Than 100 Kms |
1 Day |
For every additional 100 Kms or part thereof |
Additional 1 Day |
Cases when E-way Bill is not required:
- When the mode of vehicle is non-motor vehicle
- Goods transported from customs port, air cargo complex, airport or land customs station to (ICD) inland container depot or (CFS) container freight station for clearance by customs.
- Goods transported under customs seal or customs supervision.
- Goods transported under customs bond from inland container depot to customs port or from a custom station to another custom station.
- Transit cargo transported to or from Bhutan or Nepal.
- Transportation of goods caused by defence formation under Ministry of defence as a consignee or consignor.
- Empty cargo containers being transported.
- Consignor transporting goods to or from between different places and a weighbridge for weighment at a distance of 20 kms which is accompanied by a delivery challan.
- Goods being transported by rail where the Consignor of goods is the local authority, State government or the Central government.
- Goods which are specified as exempt from E-Way bill requirements in the respective of State/Union territory GST Rules.