How to Generate an E-Way Bill in 2026 (Portal + Busy Software)

The e-way bill is the single most common compliance task that stops an Indian consignment at a check post. If you move goods worth more than the notified threshold, you need a valid e-way bill travelling with the vehicle, and you need it generated before the truck leaves your gate rather than after. This guide explains how to generate an e-way bill on the government portal, how to do it far faster directly from Busy Software, and the mistakes that cause the most rejections and penalties.

What is an e-way bill and when is it required?

An e-way bill (Electronic Way Bill) is a document generated on the GST e-way bill portal before the movement of goods. It carries a unique 12-digit E-Way Bill Number (EBN) that is available to the supplier, the recipient and the transporter. It exists so tax authorities can track the movement of taxable goods across state and district boundaries without physically inspecting every invoice.

As a general rule an e-way bill is required whenever the consignment value of goods being moved exceeds Rs 50,000, whether that movement relates to a supply, a sales return, a job work transfer, a branch transfer or an inward supply from an unregistered person. Several states apply a different threshold for intra-state movement, and some categories such as job work and handicraft goods require an e-way bill regardless of value. Because state rules differ, always confirm the threshold applicable to your registration state before you dispatch.

There are documented exemptions too. Goods moved by a non-motorised conveyance, goods moved from a port or airport to an inland container depot for customs clearance, goods listed in the exempt annexure, and certain short-distance movements under a delivery challan do not need an e-way bill. Alcoholic liquor for human consumption, petroleum crude, high speed diesel, petrol, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel are outside GST and therefore outside the e-way bill system altogether.

Information you need before you generate an e-way bill

Generating an e-way bill fails most often because a detail is missing at the moment of entry. Collect everything below before you open the portal or the Busy voucher:

• Invoice, bill of supply or delivery challan number and date
• GSTIN of the supplier and of the recipient, or URP where the party is unregistered
• Complete dispatch-from and ship-to addresses with PIN codes
• HSN code for each item, with quantity, unit and taxable value
• Applicable CGST, SGST, IGST and cess amounts
• Transporter ID or the vehicle number, plus the mode of transport
• Approximate distance in kilometres between origin and destination PIN codes

How to generate an e-way bill on the government portal

The manual route works, and every business should understand it even if they later automate it. These are the steps:

• Log in at ewaybillgst.gov.in with your GST e-way bill credentials.
• Choose e-Way Bill and then Generate New from the left menu.
• Select the transaction type, Outward if you are the supplier and Inward if you are the recipient, then choose the sub-type such as Supply, Export, Job Work or SKD/CKD.
• Enter the document type, document number and document date exactly as printed on your invoice.
• Fill in the From and To sections. The GSTIN auto-populates the trade name; correct the dispatch and delivery addresses if they differ from the registered address.
• Add each line item with HSN, description, quantity, unit, taxable value and tax rates. The portal calculates the total.
• Enter transporter details: transporter name and ID for a hired vehicle, or the vehicle number directly if you move goods in your own vehicle.
• Confirm the approximate distance, then submit. The portal returns the 12-digit e-way bill number and a printable slip with a QR code.

Print the slip or keep the EBN accessible to the driver in digital form. During transit an officer can scan the QR code and verify the consignment against the recorded details in seconds.

How to generate an e-way bill in Busy Software, the faster way

Re-keying the same invoice into the portal is where errors and hours go. Busy Software integrates with the e-way bill system so the bill is generated from the invoice you already raised. There is no second data entry, which means the e-way bill can never disagree with the tax invoice.

One-time configuration

• Enable e-way bill under Administration, Configuration, Features and Options, GST and VAT.
• Enter your e-way bill portal API credentials created for GSP access in the e-way bill configuration screen.
• Make sure every item master carries a correct HSN code and every party master carries a valid GSTIN and PIN code, because Busy validates these before it transmits.
• Set default transporter masters with transporter ID so repeat dispatches take one keystroke.

Generating the bill from a sales voucher

• Raise the sales invoice as usual in Busy.
• In the e-way bill section of the voucher, enter transport mode, vehicle number, distance and transporter ID.
• Save the voucher. Busy prompts you to generate the e-way bill directly, or you can batch-generate later from the e-Way Bill menu.
• Busy pushes the payload to the portal, receives the EBN and Part-B acknowledgement, and stores the number against the invoice.
• Print the invoice with the e-way bill number and QR code on the same page.

Busy also supports bulk generation. If you dispatch twenty invoices in an evening run, select all of them from the pending e-way bill report and generate every EBN in one call. For businesses without API access, Busy exports a portal-ready JSON file that you upload in bulk on the e-way bill site.

Updating Part-B, extending validity and cancelling

An e-way bill has two parts. Part-A carries the invoice and party detail; Part-B carries the vehicle number. If goods are handed to a transporter before a vehicle is assigned, generate Part-A first and update Part-B when the vehicle is known. If the vehicle breaks down or the consignment is transferred to another vehicle mid-route, Part-B must be updated again. The bill remains valid, but the vehicle on record must match the vehicle actually carrying the goods.

Validity is distance-based. One day of validity is granted for every 200 km or part thereof for regular cargo, with a different slab for over-dimensional cargo. Validity counts from the time Part-B is first entered. If a genuine delay occurs, such as a natural calamity, a law and order disruption or a vehicle breakdown, validity can be extended within eight hours before or after expiry with a reason recorded.

An e-way bill can be cancelled within 24 hours of generation provided the goods have not been transported or verified in transit. After 24 hours the bill cannot be cancelled. The recipient can, however, reject it within 72 hours of generation if the consignment does not belong to them.

Penalties for moving goods without a valid e-way bill

Moving goods without a valid e-way bill attracts a penalty of Rs 10,000 or the amount of tax sought to be evaded, whichever is higher. In practice the more painful consequence is detention: the vehicle and the goods can be held until tax and penalty are paid, which means lost delivery days, unhappy customers and demurrage charges. Discrepancies between the invoice and the e-way bill, such as a wrong vehicle number, expired validity or a mismatched value, are treated in the same detention framework. That is exactly why generating the bill from the accounting entry rather than re-typing it matters.

The most common e-way bill mistakes and how to avoid them

• Wrong or missing HSN code, which causes portal rejection or an officer flagging a mismatch. Fix it once in the item master and it stays fixed.
• PIN code and distance mismatch. An unrealistic distance shortens validity and invites scrutiny, so let the software compute distance from PIN codes.
• Forgetting Part-B. A bill with no vehicle number is treated as invalid in transit.
• Expired validity on long routes. Plan validity against realistic transit time, not best-case time.
• Generating an e-way bill for exempt goods, which is unnecessary and creates reconciliation noise later.
• Not reconciling e-way bills with GSTR-1. The department cross-matches these, and Busy's e-way bill register shows invoices with no bill and bills with no invoice before you file.

Reconciling e-way bills with your GST returns

Increasingly, notices arise not from a single bad consignment but from aggregate mismatches, where the total value of outward e-way bills for a period does not match outward supplies declared in GSTR-1. Because Busy generates both the e-way bill and the return data from the same voucher, that mismatch is structurally unlikely. Run the e-way bill register for the month, compare it with the GSTR-1 summary, and investigate anything that does not line up before you file rather than after you receive a query.

If you also fall under e-invoicing, note that the two systems are linked. An e-invoice carrying transport details can generate the e-way bill in the same call, removing an entire step. Read our guide to the e-invoice limit under GST to check whether your turnover already requires it.