Enter the distance the goods will travel and this gives you the validity period and the exact expiry date and time. Getting this wrong is expensive: goods moving on an expired e-way bill can be detained, and the penalty is tax plus an equal amount.
For ordinary cargo, an e-way bill is valid for one day for every 200 km, or part thereof. The "or part thereof" is what people miss: 210 km is not 1.05 days, it is two days.
For over-dimensional cargo — anything outside the standard size limits — the allowance drops to one day per 20 km.
The first day runs to midnight of the day after generation, and each further day to the following midnight. So a bill raised at 11 pm gets very little out of its first day, which is worth remembering when scheduling a late dispatch.
The usual trigger is a consignment worth more than ₹50,000, though several states set their own lower thresholds for movements inside the state, and a few goods need one at any value.
An e-way bill is needed for movement, not just for sale — stock transfers between your own branches, goods sent for job work and returns all count. The value is the invoice value including tax.
Usually the supplier, because the supplier has the invoice. But the rule follows whoever causes the movement: a buyer collecting goods themselves raises it, and a transporter must raise it if neither party has when the goods reach them.
Part A carries the consignment and the parties, and can be filled as soon as the invoice exists. Part B carries the vehicle, and the bill is not valid without it — which is why a Part A filled in the morning and a Part B filled at loading is the normal pattern.
If the vehicle will not arrive in time, the bill can be extended — but only within a narrow window: eight hours before expiry to eight hours after. Miss it and there is no extension; the only route is a fresh bill, and in the meantime the goods are moving without cover.
The vehicle number can be updated as many times as needed while the bill is valid, which is what you do for a transhipment rather than raising a new one.
Three days. 500 divided by 200 is 2.5, and any part of a day counts as a full day, so it rounds up to three.
Only between eight hours before expiry and eight hours after. Outside that window there is no extension and a new bill has to be raised.
Usually not, but several states set lower thresholds for movements within the state and a few categories of goods require one at any value. Check your own state rules.
Yes. The clock starts at generation, and the first day ends at midnight of the following day — so generating late in the evening wastes most of the first day.