The goods and services tax, GST provides that all the transporters have to carry an e Way Bill. They need to carry the bill in case they are shifting the goods from one place to the other as well as when certain conditions laid down by the government are fulfilled.

What is an e Way Bill?

On the e Way Portal, the e Way Bill or the Electronic Way Bill will be generated for the movement of goods. Any individual who is registered under GST is not allowed to transport the goods without an e way bill, through a vehicle in case the value is more than Rs. 50000 be it a single invoice or bill or delivery challan. This E Way Bill is generated on the ewaybillgst.gov.in.

Apart from the above mentioned way, the E Way Bill can also be generated as well as cancelled either through an SMS or the Android App or by the Site to Site integration via the API. An E way Bill Number (EBN) is allotted as soon as the E way Bill is generated. This number can be used by the suppliers, transporters and the recipients.

When Should E Way Bill be Issued?

In case there is a movement of goods through a vehicle or a conveyance whose value is more than Rs. 50000, an E Way Bill will have to be generated. In case each of the invoice or the aggregate of all the invoices for the said vehicle or conveyance is:

a.       In relation to a “Supply”

b.      For any other reason which is not related to supply (maybe a return)

c.       In case an unregistered person does an inward “Supply”

For the above mentioned purposes, supply refers to any of the following:

·         During the course of business, if supply is made for the purpose of consideration (payment).

·         In case it is not in the course of business, but still a supply is made for the purposes of consideration (payment).

·         When a supply is made without a consideration i.e. without a payment. So in simple terms, the word supply is usually used for:

o   Sale -the sale of goods and the payment is made

o   Transfer - for example the branch transfer

o   Barter or exchange - those cases where the mode of payment is either through goods instead of money.

Thus it is important that all the E Way Bills are generated on a common platform or portal for any such movements. There are certain goods which have been specified and comes under the mandatory category for generating the E Way Bill, even if it so happens that the amount is not exceeding Rs. 50000. These goods are:

1.      If the movement of goods is an inter - state affair and by the Principal to the Job-worker by Principal/ registered Job-worker***.

2.      In case a dealer has been exempted from the GST Registration but is involved in the transport of the handicraft goods inter - state.

Who should Generate an E Way Bill?

There are three categories of people, namely:

1.      Registered Person

In case a person registered under GST is involved in the movement of goods, whose value is more than Rs. 50000 then they need to generate a E Way Bill. It is the choice of the registered person or the transporter to carry the E Way bill even if the goods that he is carrying does not cost more than Rs. 50000.

2.      Unregistered Person

The registration is not a deciding factor, even the unregistered ones will have to generate the E Way Bill. In case a supplier who is not a registered person is delivering good to a person who is registered, then it is the duty of the receiver to make sure that all the compliances have been fulfilled assuming him to be the supplier.

3.      Transporter

In case it happens that the supplier has not generated the E Way Bill, then it comes upon the transporter to generate same. He could be using any means of transportation be it rail, road or air.

In case of the unregistered transporters, a Transportation ID will be issued to them when they enrol on the E Way Bill Portal. After attaining the ID they can generate the E Way Bills.

Cases when E Way Bill is Not Required

There is a list of circumstances under which you need not generate the E Way Bill. These are stated under:

1.      In case the mode of transportation used is something other than a motor vehicle.

2.      In case the goods are transported from either the Customs port or the airport or the air cargo complex or the land customs station to any of the Customs port, airport, air cargo complex or land customs station to any of the Inland Container Depot (ICD) or the Container Freight Station (CFS) for the purposes of clearance by the Customs.

3.      In case the goods are transported under either the Custom Supervision or the Custom Seal.

4.      In case the goods are transported either under the Custom Bond through ICD to the Custom Port or from any one of the custom station to the other.

5.      In case of transport of the transit goods from Nepal or Bhutan either from or to.

6.      In case the Ministry of Defence transfers any goods due to the defence formation by a way of consignor or a consignee.

7.      In case the empty cargo containers are being moved.

8.      In case a shipper who transports goods to or from the place of business and weighs the platform at a distance of 20 km, along with a Delivery Challan.

9.      In case the goods that are transported by rail if the consignor is either the central government or the state governments or the local governments.

10.  In case the goods that are not subject to the e-way payment requirements in the GST rules of the respective state / Union.

11.  In case of transport of certain specified goods - contains a list of tax-exempt supplies of goods, Appendix to Rule 138 (14), goods that are treated as undelivered according to Appendix III, Specified Timetable for Central Tax Reporting. (List of products in PDF format).

Status of Implementation across India

Since April 1, 2018 when the E Way Bill were first implemented, the country has seen a significant rise in the number of the Inter State Movement of goods. In case of all the States as well as the Union Territories, the state wise implementation of the E Way Bill system has seen a fairly good response, those who have agreed to join and incorporate the system in their respective states and Union Territories.

It is not a completely strict procedure. The government has provided relief to certain individuals of certain states from generating the E Way Bill in two cases. First that their monetary limit is low than the prescribed one, and second in case of certain specified goods. For example, the Government of the State of Tamil Nadu has provided an exemption to all those individuals whose monetary limit does not reach the amount of Rs. 1 Lakh. 

In case you want to know more about these reliefs provided by the States as well as Union Territories then you can visit the Commercial Tax Websites for each of the respective State or UT.

How to Generate the E Way Bill?

You can visit the E Way Bill Portal in order to generate your E Way Bill. Then you will need to fill in your portal login credentials.

Validity of the E Way Bill

The validity of the E Way Bill has been divided in two categories which are mentioned below. This division is based on the distance for which the goods are being transferred. The validity of the bill is calculated from the date and the time since when the bill was actually generated:

The validity of the E Way Bill can be extended as well. The person generating the bill has an option to either extend the same. In case of extending the period before the expiry of the bill then they have to do it at least four hours prior to it and if they are doing it after the bill has already expired then also, it has to be completed with the next four hours.

Documents or Details required to generate E Way Bill

The following documents will be required to be submitted in order to generate the bill:

·         Invoice or the Bill of Supply or the Challan related to the consignment of the goods.

·         In case of transport by road – either the Transporter ID or the Vehicle number.

·         In case of transport by rail or air or through ship – the Transporter ID, Transport document number as well as the date on the document. Visit for more details