India’s goods movement hit a fresh high in December, with total e-way bill generation rising 23.6 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to 138.39 million, according to data released by the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN).
The December figure surpassed the previous record of 132 million logged in September, reflecting sustained momentum in economic activity and goods movement during the festive and year-end period. In November, e-way bill generation had increased 6.5 per cent to 129.8 million.
An e-way bill is an electronically generated document required under the goods and services tax (GST) regime for the movement of goods worth more than ₹50,000. It contains details of the consignment, consignor, consignee and transporter, and is aimed at curbing tax evasion while enabling real-time tracking of goods movement across states.
Experts said the sharp rise was partly driven by the GST 2.0 rate rationalisation exercise, which has lowered the tax incidence on several goods.
“The jump in e-way bills can be attributed to the rate rationalisation exercise under GST 2.0. Higher GST registrations following the rollout of the Centre’s new fast-track registration scheme also suggest that more businesses are moving into the formal economy, a trend clearly reflected in the surge in e-way bills,” an tax expert said.
It was reported that 142,000 applications for GST registration were cleared electronically in the first 15 days of November after the new scheme was launched on November 1.
The sharp increase in e-way bills also signals an improvement in overall consumption, driven by rate rationalisation under GST 2.0, another tax expert said. “This level of growth is uncommon for December and reflects the impact of significant rate cuts,” he added.
Higher e-way bill generation also aligns with broader consumption trends, with the government projecting private final consumption expenditure growth at 7 per cent in 2025–26, compared with 7.2 per cent last year, even as real gross domestic product growth is estimated at 7.4 per cent, up from 6.5 per cent, according to the First Advance Estimates released on Wednesday.
