Electronic permits raised by businesses for moving goods within and across states hit a record 90.9 million in March, indicating robust economic activity in the final month of the financial year, according to data available from GSTN, the company that processes GST returns.
The surge in activity points to businesses pushing goods into the supply chain as they strive to meet annual targets, mirroring last year’s activity, which resulted in record GST receipts of ₹1.67 trillion in April. Taxes collected in the current month will correspond to sales achieved by businesses in March.
GSTN data shows that 57.8 million e-way bills were generated in March for goods shipment within states and 33 million permits for inter-state shipments.
This is an 11% improvement over the total e-way bills raised in February.
Earlier this month, S&P Global reported that India’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index or PMI rose from 55.3 in February to 56.4 in March, signalling the sharpest improvement in operating conditions in 2023 so far. March data highlighted a further upturn in new business placed with Indian manufacturers. This expansion, the market intelligence provider said, was sharp and the quickest in three months.
To be sure, e-way bill data only indicates permits generated for shipping consignments valued more than ₹50,000, and the cumulative value of all permits or the tax revenue due cannot be known from the number of permits raised.
Source: Live mint
https://www.livemint.com/economy/eway-bills-hit-record-90-9-mn-in-march-on-surge-in-biz-activity-11680802448499.html
