E-way bills increase in December at 95 million

In December, the issuance of e-way bills and electronic permits for the transportation of goods within and across states rose to 95 million, up from 87.5 million in November. This increase was attributed to businesses pushing goods into the supply chain during the last month of the third quarter. In October, e-way bills reached a historic high of over 100 million due to heightened festive demand for goods, but there was a dip in November.

E-way bills serve as an economic activity indicator. The sales trend in December, as revealed in data from GSTN (the company processing GST returns), is expected to be reflected in January’s tax collections. In December, central and state governments collected INR 1.65 trillion in GST revenue, slightly below the monthly fiscal average of INR 1.66 trillion. Despite this, GST revenue receipts exhibited a 10.3% year-on-year growth.

Earlier this month, S&P Global reported that India’s manufacturing output expanded robustly in December despite losing growth momentum. The manufacturing purchase managers’ index fell from 56.0 in November to 54.9 in December, indicating a notable improvement in the sector’s health. Although this reading was above the long-run series trend, it contributed to the lowest quarterly average of 55.5 since the first quarter of FY2023, according to S&P.

Railway freight data, another high-frequency indicator, demonstrated improvement in official figures released on January 4. In December 2023, the Railways achieved originating freight loading of 138.99 million tonnes, a 6.37% increase from December 2022. Freight revenue also showed a 3.59% improvement, reaching INR 15,097.61 crore compared to INR 14,574.25 crore a year ago.

Source: Mint