E-way bills rise as businesses push goods in December

New Delhi: The number of e-way bills or electronic permits for shipment of goods generated within and across states increased to 95 million in December, up from 87.5 million in November as businesses pushed goods into the supply chain in the last month of the third quarter.

E-way bills saw a dip in November from a historic high of over 100 million in October that marked a surge in festive demand for goods.

E-way bills are an indicator of economic activity. The sales trend in December, as shown in data released on Wednesday by GSTN, the company that processes Goods and Services Tax (GST) returns, is expected to get reflected in January’s tax collections.

Central and state governments collected ₹1.65 trillion in GST revenue in December, a notch below the monthly average so far this fiscal of ₹1.66 trillion.

But GST revenue receipts still showed a double digit growth of 10.3% compared with a year ago.

S&P Global on 3 January said India’s manufacturing output expanded strongly in December despite a loss of growth momentum. According to S&P Global, despite falling from 56.0 in November to an 18-month low of 54.9 in December, the manufacturing purchase managers’ index was indicative of a marked improvement in the health of the sector.

A reading of 50 separates expansion from contraction.

The latest reading was above the long-run series trend, but contributed to the lowest quarterly average of 55.5 since the first quarter of FY2023, S&P said.

Another high frequency indicator, railway freight data, had shown an improvement in the official figures released on 4 January. The Railways said that in December, it achieved originating freight loading of 138.99 million tonnes against 130.66 million tonnes in December 2022, higher by 6.37%.

Freight revenue of ₹15,097.61 crore was reported in December 2023 against ₹14,574.25 crore a year ago, showing a 3.59% improvement.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gireesh Chandra Prasad
Gireesh has over 22 years of experience in business journalism covering diverse aspects of the economy, including finance, taxation, energy, aviation, corporate and bankruptcy laws, accounting and auditing.
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Published: 10 Jan 2024, 10:51 PM IST