An e-way bill is the electronic permit for moving goods under GST. Any registered person moving goods worth more than ₹50,000 in one consignment has to generate one on the e-way bill portal before the goods leave. Several states set a higher limit for movement within the state, so check your own state's notification before assuming a small intra-state load is exempt.
How validity is counted
- Regular cargo: one day for every 200 km of distance, or part of it.
- Over-dimensional cargo, and multimodal movement that includes a ship: one day for every 20 km, or part of it.
- A 'day' ends at midnight of the day after the bill was generated. A bill generated at 11 pm therefore still gets the whole of the next day as its first day.
- The distance that counts is the one entered on the bill, which the portal checks against the PIN codes of the two places.
In practice: a 180 km trip gets one day. 350 km gets two days, because the extra 150 km is 'part of' a second 200 km block. A 1,200 km run from Gujarat to Delhi gets six days. An over-dimensional load travelling just 90 km gets five days, because its block is only 20 km.
Same city, and very short distances
Moving goods within the same city is still a movement of goods, so the value threshold applies like anywhere else — though some states exempt intra-city movement or set higher limits. Separately, when goods go from the supplier to a transporter within the same state and that leg is under 50 km, Part B (the vehicle details) need not be filled at that stage. It must be completed before the onward journey.
Two rules that changed in 2025
- Since 1 January 2025, a bill can only be generated against an invoice or document dated within the last 180 days. Older documents are rejected.
- Since the same date, extensions are capped at 360 days from the original generation. After that, a fresh bill is needed.
- An extension can only be requested in a window from eight hours before to eight hours after expiry. Miss it and the bill cannot be extended.
- Two-factor authentication has been mandatory for every portal login since 1 April 2025.
Changes announced for August 2026 — a mandatory ship-to GSTIN in some bill-to/ship-to transactions and voluntary closure of bills — were put on hold, with no new date announced. Guides written before the hold still describe them as live.
If the bill expires on the road
Goods moving on an expired bill are treated like goods moving without one. They can be detained, and the release penalty is calculated on the tax payable on the goods — for the owner it can reach 200% of that tax. If a delay is likely, extend the bill in the eight-hour window rather than hoping the vehicle reaches before midnight.
Check the validity for your routeFrequently asked questions
- How is e-way bill validity calculated?
- By distance. Regular cargo gets one day for each 200 km or part of it; over-dimensional cargo gets one day for each 20 km or part of it. Each day ends at midnight of the day after generation.
- What is the e-way bill validity for 400 km and 1,000 km?
- For regular cargo, 400 km is two days and 1,000 km is five days, because validity is one day per 200 km or part thereof.
- Is an e-way bill needed within the same city?
- The ₹50,000 threshold applies to movement within a city too, but several states exempt intra-city movement or set a higher intra-state limit. Check your state's notification.
- Can an e-way bill be extended after it expires?
- Only within eight hours after expiry, and total extensions are capped at 360 days from when the bill was first generated. After that window, a new bill is required.