If your business moves goods across a city, across a state, or even back from a job worker, there is a document you are expected to generate before the vehicle leaves. That document is the E-Way Bill. Miss it, and the consequences range from a ₹10,000 penalty to full detention of the goods and vehicle at a check post.
Since its national rollout in 2018, the E-Way Bill system has become one of the most operationally critical parts of GST compliance for businesses that deal in physical goods.
Yet the rules around it remain a source of daily confusion - particularly for growing businesses, manufacturers, and traders who have shipments moving regularly and are not always sure what triggers the requirement.
This blog post covers the E-Way Bill in full: when it is required, who generates it, what the form contains, how to generate it step by step, what the validity rules look like, and where the most common errors occur.
The rules have seen several updates through 2025 and into 2026, and this post reflects the current state of compliance.
What Is an E-Way Bill?
An E-Way Bill is a mandatory electronic document under GST required before transporting goods worth over ₹50,000 within or between states in India.
Generated on the GSTN portal using Form EWB-01, it records the consignor, consignee, goods description, HSN code, value, and transporter details, enabling tax authorities to track and verify the lawful movement of goods in real time.
E-Way Bill Rules Every Business Moving Goods in India Must Know
1. When Is an E-Way Bill Required?
The threshold is straightforward at the central level: any movement of goods where the consignment value exceeds ₹50,000 requires an E-Way Bill. This applies whether the goods are being transported for a sale, a stock transfer, a return, or any other reason. The value is calculated on the invoice amount including GST.
For inter-state movement - that is, goods crossing from one state to another - this ₹50,000 rule applies uniformly across India. There is no state-level variation for inter-state supply.
If you are sending goods from Mumbai to Delhi worth ₹55,000, an E-Way Bill is non-negotiable regardless of what the goods are or who is transporting them.
For intra-state movement - goods moving within the same state - each state has the authority to set its own threshold. Most states follow the ₹50,000 baseline, but some have set higher limits for specific categories.
Before dispatching goods within your own state, check the current intra-state threshold notified by your state government, as these do get revised.
An E-Way Bill is also required in situations that do not involve a commercial sale. These include goods sent to a job worker and returned, stock transfers between branches of the same business, goods sent on approval basis, and goods returned to the supplier. The nature of the movement - not just whether a sale happened - determines the requirement.
One point that catches many businesses off-guard: if an unregistered person is supplying goods to a registered business, the registered recipient is responsible for generating the E-Way Bill. The obligation does not disappear simply because the supplier is unregistered.
2. Who Is Responsible for Generating It?
The E-Way Bill can be generated by the consignor (the person sending the goods), the consignee (the person receiving the goods), or the transporter. In practice, it is usually the consignor who generates it before the goods are dispatched. But the law allows any of the three parties to do so, and in certain cases - such as when the supplier is unregistered - the responsibility shifts explicitly.
If neither the consignor nor the consignee generates the E-Way Bill and the goods are being transported by a registered transporter, the transporter must generate it. This matters particularly for logistics companies and fleet operators who carry goods for multiple clients - they need to ensure an E-Way Bill exists for the consignment before moving it, even if the shipper has not provided one.
From April 2026, all users logging into the E-Way Bill portal are required to complete two-factor authentication (2FA) using an OTP sent to their registered mobile number. This applies to all taxpayers without exception, regardless of turnover size.
3. What the E-Way Bill Contains: Part A and Part B
The E-Way Bill form - EWB-01 - is divided into two distinct parts, and understanding the split is important for businesses where the person generating the bill may not always know the vehicle details at the time of filing.
Part A - The Consignment Details
Part A captures everything about the goods and the transaction. This includes the GSTIN of the supplier and recipient, the invoice or delivery challan number and date, the consignment value, the HSN code of the goods (6-digit for businesses with turnover above ₹5 crore, 4-digit for others), the reason for transportation, and the place of delivery pincode.
Part A can be generated before the vehicle and transporter are confirmed. This is useful for businesses where orders are invoiced before logistics are finalised. Once Part A is submitted, a unique E-Way Bill Number (EBN) is generated. The 14-digit EBN is what authorities check at inter-state borders and internal check posts.
Part B - The Transport Details
Part B is where vehicle information goes: the vehicle number for road transport, or the transport document number for rail, air, or ship. Part B is filled by the transporter or the consignor once the mode of transport and vehicle are confirmed. Critically, the validity clock starts only when Part B is submitted - not when Part A is generated.
There is one exception to Part B: if the distance between the consignor and the transporter is less than 50 km within the same state, Part B does not need to be filled immediately. The goods can move, but Part B must be updated before the consignment crosses 50 km from the point of dispatch.
4. How to Generate an E-Way Bill: Step by Step
The E-Way Bill portal operates at ewaybillgst.gov.in. From July 2025, a parallel portal - ewaybill2.gst.gov.in - is also live and fully synchronised, designed as a backup to ensure continuity during maintenance windows.
Log in to the E-Way Bill portal using your GSTIN-based credentials and complete OTP-based 2FA authentication.
From the main dashboard, navigate to E-Way Bill and select Generate New.
Select the transaction type: Outward (if you are the supplier) or Inward (if you are the recipient generating on behalf of an unregistered supplier).
Select the sub-type: Supply, Export, Job Work, SKD/CKD, Recipient Not Known, For Own Use, Exhibition, Line Sales, or Others.
Enter the document details: invoice or challan number, date, and the recipient's GSTIN or address.
Enter the goods details: HSN code, product description, quantity, unit, taxable value, and applicable tax rate.
Enter transporter details in Part B: vehicle number or transport document number.
Submit the form. A 14-digit E-Way Bill Number (EBN) is generated immediately. Save or print this - it must travel with the goods.
One important update from January 2025: E-Way Bills can only be generated for invoices or delivery challans dated within 180 days of the generation date. If your invoice is older than 180 days, the portal will block generation. There are no workarounds - a fresh invoice or document is needed in such cases.
5. Validity, Extensions, and What Happens When Goods Are Delayed
The validity of an E-Way Bill depends on the distance the goods need to travel. For regular cargo, the rule is one day per 200 km or part thereof. So goods travelling 350 km have a validity of two days. Goods travelling 500 km get three days. For over-dimensional cargo - heavy machinery or large equipment - the rule is one day per 20 km.
Validity starts from the moment Part B is submitted, not from when Part A was generated. This is a detail that causes genuine operational problems when Part A is filled a day before dispatch and Part B only at the time of loading - the validity window shrinks accordingly.
Extensions are available but must be requested either within 8 hours before expiry or within 8 hours after expiry. You cannot extend an E-Way Bill that has been expired for more than 8 hours. From January 2025, total validity including all extensions is capped at 360 days from the original generation date.
In cases of genuine delay - vehicle breakdown, road closure, natural events - document the reason before requesting the extension. Tax officers who review extended E-Way Bills look for consistency between the stated reason and the actual circumstances.
6. Goods and Situations Exempt from E-Way Bill
Not every movement of goods requires an E-Way Bill. Rule 138(14) of the CGST Rules lists specific categories where the requirement does not apply. These include:
Goods transported by non-motorised conveyance - hand carts, bullock carts, and similar vehicles.
Goods moved under customs supervision or bond between a customs station and an inland container depot.
Specific goods exempted under GST notifications - fresh fruits and vegetables, unprocessed meat, milk, curd, eggs, unbranded salt, handloom products, books and printed material, and LPG supplied for household use.
Used personal and household effects - moving household goods during relocation does not require an E-Way Bill.
Goods consigned to or from certain defence formations.
Goods transported within a notified municipal or urban area boundary, where the state has explicitly exempted intra-city movement.
The exemption list is worth reviewing periodically. Goods categories are occasionally added or removed, and businesses operating in sectors like agriculture, handlooms, or FMCG need to stay current on which of their products qualify.
7. Penalties for Non-Compliance
The E-Way Bill system has physical enforcement built in. Tax officers at check posts and on mobile squads verify E-Way Bills against the goods in transit. The penalties for non-compliance are not administrative fines that arrive by post weeks later - they are imposed on the spot, with detention of the goods and vehicle until payment is made.
The standard monetary penalty under Section 122 is ₹10,000 or the amount of tax evaded, whichever is higher. For cases where goods are detained and the owner steps forward to settle, the penalty is 100% of the tax amount on the goods. If no one steps forward, it rises to 50% of the total goods value. These are significant numbers for a consignment that simply missed documentation.
Using an expired E-Way Bill is treated the same as not having one. The validity rules exist precisely to prevent a bill generated for one trip being used for another. A bill that expired yesterday afternoon is grounds for detention today morning.
Keep Your Goods Moving Without Compliance Gaps
E-Way Bill compliance looks simple on paper but creates real operational friction for businesses with daily dispatches, multiple warehouses, or vendor networks that include unregistered suppliers. The 2025 and 2026 updates - MFA requirements, the 180-day invoice restriction, and the E-Way Bill 2.0 portal - have tightened the system further, leaving less room for process gaps that once passed without notice.
At CA Pramod Singhal, GST and indirect tax compliance is handled as a complete workflow - not just return filing. From helping businesses set up correct E-Way Bill generation processes to managing reconciliation between E-Way Bills and GSTR-1, our team ensures the movement of goods does not become a compliance liability.
If your business handles regular dispatches and you want a clean, penalty-free process in place, reach out to https://www.capramodsinghal.com/ for expert GST compliance support that protects your business.