E-Way Bill Complete Guide — When It Is Required, Registration and User ID, How to Generate Part A and Part B, Validity, Extension, Cancellation, the 2.0 Portal and Penalties for Moving Goods Without One
Video Explanation & Insights
How to generate an e-way bill — Part 1, the rules
4 videos on this topic
When an e-way bill is required
An e-way bill (Form GST EWB-01) is an electronic document that must accompany the movement of goods worth more than ₹50,000 in a single conveyance, by road, rail, air or ship, whether the movement is a sale, a stock transfer, a job-work dispatch, a return, an exhibition move or for any reason other than supply. It is generated on the common portal before the goods start moving, by the registered supplier or recipient, or by the transporter when neither has generated it. Inter-state movement of handicraft goods and job-work goods needs a bill regardless of value.
| Situation | E-way bill? |
|---|---|
| Inter-state movement, value above ₹50,000 | Yes, always |
| Intra-state movement | Yes above ₹50,000, unless the state has raised its limit — Rajasthan, Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar, Punjab and others exempt most goods up to ₹1 lakh; check your state notification |
| Goods sent for job work inter-state | Yes, at any value |
| Exempt goods (Annexure to rule 138 — fruit, vegetables, milk, LPG for households, jewellery, currency, used personal effects), non-motorised conveyance, goods from port/airport to ICD under customs bond, movement within a notified area | No |
| Value for the ₹50,000 test | Invoice value including GST but excluding exempt goods on the same invoice; where several consignments in one vehicle are each below ₹50,000, the transporter is no longer required to raise a consolidated bill |
User ID, sub-users and transporter enrolment
- 1Register once at ewaybillgst.gov.in (or the 2.0 portal ewaybill2.gst.gov.in — both share the same data) with your GSTIN; an OTP goes to the mobile and e-mail on the GST registration. Create a username and password; this is separate from your GST portal login.
- 2Create sub-users for the dispatch desk, each branch and the accountant, with rights limited to generate, update Part B, cancel or report — so a leaving employee's access can be cut without changing the main password.
- 3Two-factor authentication is mandatory for taxpayers with turnover above ₹20 crore and is being extended to all: pick the Sandes app, NIC-GST-Shield or SMS OTP for the second factor.
- 4Unregistered transporters enrol on the same portal with PAN to obtain a 15-digit Transporter ID (TRANSIN), which suppliers quote in Part A so the transporter can fill Part B.
- 5Link e-invoicing if your turnover exceeds ₹5 crore: an e-way bill Part A can be generated on the IRP at the same time as the IRN, with no re-keying.
Filling Part A and Part B
| Part | What goes in | Who fills it |
|---|---|---|
| Part A | Transaction type (outward/inward, supply, export, job work, SKD/CKD, recipient-not-known, for own use, exhibition, line sales, others), document type and number, date, bill-from / dispatch-from, bill-to / ship-to with GSTINs and pin codes, item HSN, quantity, taxable value, tax rates and amounts, approximate distance (auto-calculated from pin codes, editable by up to 10% more) | Supplier or recipient; the IRP when e-invoicing |
| Part B | Mode (road, rail, air, ship), vehicle number or transport document number and date, transporter ID | Supplier, or the transporter after Part A is assigned to them; must be entered before the goods move |
- •Bill-to ship-to: one e-way bill by the supplier showing the buyer as 'bill to' and the buyer's customer as 'ship to'; the second invoice from buyer to customer needs no separate movement bill.
- •Multiple vehicles or transhipment: update Part B each time the goods change vehicle (Update Vehicle) — the original bill continues; keep the reason (breakdown, transhipment) recorded.
- •Consolidated e-way bill (EWB-02): a transporter carrying many consignments generates one consolidated document listing all individual bills.
- •Part A only: valid for 15 days for Part B to be filled; the bill is not valid for movement until Part B exists.
- •Rejection: the other party can reject an e-way bill generated against their GSTIN within 72 hours; silence is deemed acceptance.
Validity, extension and cancellation
- •Validity starts when Part B is first entered: one day for every 200 km or part (one day per 20 km for over-dimensional cargo). A day ends at midnight of the following day.
- •Extension: allowed within 8 hours before or after expiry, by the person who generated it or the current transporter, with a reason (breakdown, natural calamity, law and order, accident, transhipment). Since 1 January 2025 total extensions are capped at 360 days from the generation date.
- •Cancellation: within 24 hours of generation if the goods did not move or the bill has an error, unless it has already been verified in transit — after that, the only route is to let it lapse and issue a fresh bill with the correct document.
- •Rule 138E blocking: if GSTR-3B (or CMP-08) is not filed for two consecutive tax periods, e-way bill generation against that GSTIN is blocked for both outward and inward supplies until the returns are filed.
- •Verification: officers can intercept and verify the bill, RFID tag or physical goods; a verification report (EWB-03) is filed within 3 days and the same vehicle should not be checked again in the state unless there is specific information.
What it costs to move goods without a valid bill
Under section 129, goods and the vehicle can be detained and released only on payment of a penalty: 200% of the tax on the goods where the owner comes forward (2% of value or ₹25,000, whichever is lower, for exempt goods); where the owner does not come forward, 50% of the value of the goods or 200% of the tax, whichever is higher. A notice must be served within 7 days of detention and the order passed within 7 days after that; non-payment within 15 days leads to sale of the goods. A minor clerical error (spelling, a wrong pin code, a digit in the vehicle number) attracts a ₹500 penalty under section 125 (₹1,000 total for CGST and SGST), not section 129 — cite CBIC's circular when an officer treats a typo as evasion.
E-way bill: questions we are asked
Yes if the consignment value exceeds ₹50,000 and no state exemption applies; the distance does not matter, only the value and the goods.
You, the registered recipient — the movement is 'inward' in Part A; the transporter can generate it if you assign Part A to them.
Extend within 8 hours after expiry with the reason recorded; beyond that, generate a fresh bill for the remaining journey referring to the same invoice.
No. Generate a fresh bill; the lapsed bill simply expires. Do not reuse the invoice number for a different consignment.
Rule 138E — two consecutive GSTR-3B returns are pending. File them; the block lifts automatically within a day (or apply to the officer for unblocking).
Yes — portal registration, sub-user IDs, e-invoice linkage, transporter enrolment and the monthly filings that keep the ID unblocked.