When an e-way bill is required — the ₹50,000 rule
Answer first: generate an e-way bill before moving goods worth more than ₹50,000 in a single consignment. The rule attaches to movement, not just sale — a branch transfer, a job-work dispatch, goods sent for repair and a sales return all count. The ₹50,000 line applies uniformly to inter-state movement. For intra-state movement, states may set their own limits, and several have: Maharashtra and Delhi, for instance, use ₹1 lakh for moves within the state. Two movements need an e-way bill regardless of value: inter-state job work and inter-state movement of handicraft goods by dealers exempt from registration.
Consignment value means the invoice or challan value including GST but excluding exempt goods carried alongside. Who generates it? Normally the supplier as consignor; the recipient can, and where neither does, a registered transporter must for road movement. State rules shift by notification — treat the numbers here as current to July 2026 and confirm your own state's position with your CA or transporter before relying on a higher limit.
Part A and Part B — what goes where
An e-way bill (form GST EWB-01) has two halves, and the split is the key to running it smoothly:
| Aspect | Part A — the consignment | Part B — the transport |
|---|---|---|
| Contains | Supplier & recipient GSTINs, place of delivery, invoice/challan number and date, value, HSN, reason for movement | Vehicle number for road; transporter document number for rail, air or ship |
| Comes from | Your billing system — the invoice and delivery challan | Your transporter — often at the last minute |
| When filled | As soon as the documents exist | When the vehicle is assigned |
| Validity clock | Not started — Part A alone is not a valid e-way bill | Starts here — first Part B entry starts validity |
| Can change? | No — cancel within 24 hours and regenerate if wrong | Yes — vehicle can be updated en route (breakdown, transshipment) |
The practical rhythm: billing fills Part A the moment the challan and invoice are confirmed; the moment the truck is at the gate, Part B goes in and the goods roll. The recipient, incidentally, sees the e-way bill on the portal and can reject it within 72 hours — one more reason the underlying documents should be right the first time.
Validity — the distance clock
Validity is earned by distance, not negotiated:
- Normal cargo: one day per 200 km or part thereof — up to 200 km gets one day, 201–400 km two days, and so on.
- Over-dimensional cargo: one day per 20 km — the slow-vehicle allowance for ODC consignments.
- The clock starts at the first Part B entry, and each "day" runs to midnight of the day following.
- Extension window: 8 hours either side of expiry — the current transporter can extend for genuine delays (breakdown, natural calamity, transshipment), stating the reason.
An expired e-way bill is not a paperwork slip; goods moving on one risk detention of both goods and vehicle under Section 129, with release against tax and penalty that can reach 200% of the tax involved. Dispatch teams should treat the validity window as they treat a delivery promise — planned, tracked, and extended before it lapses, not after.
Exemptions and special cases
No e-way bill is needed when:
- The consignment value is ₹50,000 or below (or below your state's higher intra-state limit).
- The goods are GST-exempt or on the specifically exempted annexure — items like fresh produce, milk, or personal household effects.
- Transport is by non-motorised conveyance — the hand-cart and bullock-cart clause.
- Movement is within the notified short-distance relaxations — for example, the up-to-50-km leg between consignor and transporter hub, where Part B can be skipped though Part A still applies.
- The movement is under customs control — bonded transfers between ports, airports and ICDs.
Remember the two reverse exceptions that trip people the other way: inter-state job work and inter-state handicraft movements need an e-way bill even under ₹50,000. And a delivery challan movement — job work, repair, branch transfer — still needs an e-way bill above the threshold even though no tax invoice exists yet. Exemption lists are notification-driven and state-sensitive; verify before you rely on them.
Dispatch data scattered across registers and templates?
See a challan and invoice raised in one flow, with every field the e-way bill needs — value, HSN, GSTINs, document numbers — ready in one place, in a 30-minute demo.
Where the data comes from — challan plus invoice
Look again at Part A's field list: GSTINs, document number and date, value, HSN, place of delivery. Every one of those already exists in a well-kept billing system — on the delivery challan that moves the goods and the tax invoice that bills them. The e-way bill is, in data terms, a projection of your billing documents onto a government form.
That is why the quality of your e-way bill compliance is decided long before anyone opens the portal. If challans and invoices are raised in one system — linked, numbered, HSN-mapped, GSTIN-verified — then Part A is a copy-paste (or an upload) and errors are rare. If the challan lives in a gate register and the invoice in a Word file, every e-way bill is a fresh chance to mistype a GSTIN or a value, and every mismatch is a question an officer can ask at a checkpoint. The pillar guide covers this challan-versus-invoice discipline; the e-way bill is where it pays off in transit.
The e-invoice linkage and the blocking rule
E-invoice first, e-way bill second
For businesses in the e-invoicing mandate (AATO above ₹5 crore), the two documents are converging: the IRP can generate the e-way bill along with the IRN in one call, and for mandated taxpayers the e-way bill for a B2B movement is expected to reference the invoice's IRN. Practical consequence: an invoice that failed to earn an IRN can strand a loaded truck. Generate the e-invoice first; let the e-way bill ride on it.
Rule 138E — the returns block
E-way bill generation is blocked for a taxpayer who has not filed GSTR-3B (or CMP-08) for two or more consecutive tax periods — as consignor or consignee. The block lifts only after the pending returns are filed. This turns return discipline into a logistics issue: a missed 3B does not just accrue late fees, it can stop your goods at the factory gate. It is also one more reason clean GSTR reconciliation from billing data belongs in your monthly rhythm.
The mistakes that get vehicles detained
- Moving on an expired e-way bill — the commonest detention cause; extend within the 8-hour window instead.
- Vehicle number mismatch — the truck changed but Part B was never updated.
- Invoice and e-way bill telling different stories — value or HSN mismatches between the documents in the cab and the portal record.
- Splitting consignments to duck ₹50,000 — transparent to officers and treated as evasion.
- Wrong document type — dispatching on a challan movement but citing a tax invoice, or vice versa; job work and branch transfers have their own reason codes.
How Fast Billing Software feeds the e-way bill
Fast Billing Software treats the e-way bill as what it is — a projection of the dispatch and the invoice. The delivery challan / packing slip carries the movement data; the tax invoice raised against that dispatch carries value, HSN and the GST split; and the GST, e-Way Bill & e-Invoice integration surfaces exactly the fields EWB-01 Part A needs, consignment by consignment. Because the invoice can only bill what was actually dispatched — the used-quantity guard — the paper in the cab and the record on the portal cannot drift apart. The same confirmed documents then post to Tally as vouchers, and the same register drives your returns. One data set; three compliances. Deployment is cloud or on-premise with simple INR pricing.
A Friday dispatch, done right
A Pune fabricator ships ₹3.2 lakh of brackets to a Gujarat OEM. The challan and invoice come off one linked flow — HSN mapped, GSTIN verified, value with GST computed. Part A is filled from the invoice in minutes; the transporter enters the truck number at the gate at 5 pm, starting a two-day clock for the 480 km run. When the truck is stopped near Surat, the officer scans, the documents and the portal agree, and the vehicle is moving again in five minutes. Monday morning, the invoice posts to Tally and the same register is already reconciled for GSTR-1.
Frequently asked questions
When is an e-way bill required?
Before moving goods worth more than ₹50,000 in a single consignment — whether a sale, branch transfer, job-work dispatch or sales return. The ₹50,000 line applies to inter-state movement; several states set higher intra-state limits (Maharashtra and Delhi use ₹1 lakh), so check your state's rule. Inter-state job work and handicraft movements need an e-way bill regardless of value.
What are Part A and Part B of an e-way bill?
Part A holds the consignment facts — GSTINs, place of delivery, invoice or challan number and date, value, HSN and reason for movement — and comes from your billing data. Part B holds the transport facts — vehicle number or transporter document — and comes from your transporter. Part A can be filled as soon as the documents exist; validity starts only when Part B is entered.
How long is an e-way bill valid?
One day per 200 km or part of it for normal cargo; one day per 20 km for over-dimensional cargo. The clock starts at the first Part B entry, each day running to midnight of the following day. The current transporter can extend within 8 hours before or after expiry for genuine delays. Moving on an expired e-way bill risks detention of goods and vehicle under Section 129.
Which movements are exempt from e-way bills?
Consignments of ₹50,000 or below (subject to state limits), GST-exempt and annexure-listed goods, non-motorised transport, notified short-distance legs such as up to 50 km to a transporter hub for Part B purposes, and customs-controlled movements. The lists are notification-driven and state-sensitive — confirm current rules with your CA or transporter.
Can e-way bill generation be blocked?
Yes. Under Rule 138E, not filing GSTR-3B (or CMP-08) for two or more consecutive tax periods blocks e-way bill generation for you as consignor or consignee until the returns are filed. And for e-invoice-mandated businesses, the e-way bill increasingly rides on the invoice IRN — so an invoice without an IRN can strand a dispatch.