E-way bill generation under the goods and services tax (GST) system rose 11.5% to 23.52 lakh/day for the week ended January 23, compared with 21.1 lakh/day in the previous week, indicating a pick-up in goods dispatches. E-way bill generations stood at 4.96 crore in the first 23 days of January with a daily average of 21.57 lakh.

The daily e-way bill generation rose 13% on month to 23.1 lakh in December compared with 20.38 lakh in November. With Covid cases surging after the spread of the Omicron variant of the virus and restrictions imposed in many parts of the country, the shipments got impacted in the first half of January.

E-way bill generation was 7.16 crore for December, the second-highest monthly data since the online system was rolled out on April 1, 2018, reflecting an uptick in demand during the year-end. October e-way bills at 7.35 crore were the highest monthly number, thanks to a spurt in goods dispatches for stocking ahead of the festival season by shopkeepers and traders. 

E-way bills fell to a five-month low in November as demand moderated after the festivities. Higher e-way bills generation gets reflected in higher GST revenues. Gross GST collections came in at about Rs 1.3 lakh crore in December (November transactions), despite a 17% on-month reduction in e-way bills generated in November, due to improved tax compliance and better tax administration. The January (December transactions) GST collections will likely exceed December collections by a decent margin.