E-way bill generation maintains momentum in August | evidence of the growing economy

E-way bill generation for goods and shipments across the states is speeding up again after a decline amid the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the report released by GSTN, the rate of e-way bill generation in August remained stable for the first 15 days as compared to the previous month.

As per the report, close to 2 million e-way bills have been generated a day on an average in the month of July. In June, the daily average of e-way bill generation was 1.8 million. In the first two weeks of August, over 30 million e-way bills were reported wherein 1.56 crore e-way bills were generated in the first week of August.

Though there was a decline in e-way bill generation in the April and May months due to mobility restrictions in the different parts of the country, it was improved in June and July months. The average daily e-way bill generation was 19.24 lakh in the first 11 days of July whereas it was 20.4 lakh till July 18, 20.2 lakh till July 25, and 24.3 lakh in the last six days of July.

The average rate of e-way bills generation was stabilized in August. Daily e-way bill generation for goods transportation under the GST system in the first eight days of August was 1.3% higher than the first 11 days of July, which indicates that e-way bill generation is picking up speed again. Considering this trend, the daily average of e-way bills is expected to rise in September and November too. E-way bill generation by businesses was reported to rise to 6.42 crore in July from 5.5 crores in June and 4 crores in May.

With the rise in daily e-waybill generations, GST collections have also ramped up. A total of Rs. 1.16 lakh crore of GST collection was reported by central and state governments in the month of July. According to the data released by the finance ministry, total GST revenue collection touches Rs 92,849 crore mark in June, of which Central GST was Rs. 16,424 crore, state GST was Rs 20,397, integrated GST was Rs 49,079 crore, and cess was Rs 6,949 crore.

The GST revenue collection this year was 2 percent higher as compared to the previous year at the same time during the nationwide lockdowns. A total of Rs. 90,917 crore GST collection was reported in June 2021, but this has declined in the months of April and May due to either complete or partial lockdowns in various states. The second wave of the Covid-19 Pandemic had impelled state governments to impose lockdown measures to curb its spread. As the Covid-19 cases were at their peak in May, business and industrial activities had been shut down in many states and UTs, which impacted e-way bill generations. However, with the ease of lockdown and relief in mobility constraints, the GST collections increased after June 2021.

Particularly, there has been a sharp increase in the generation of the e-way bill since June this year as the daily average of GST e-way bills rose to 2.13 million in August from 2.07 million in July 2021. This indicates a huge improvement in goods shipment, which implies nothing but evidence of smart economic recovery amid reduced cases of Covid-19. With Inputs from Agencies.