E-way bills, written for the dispatch team
The finance team owns the e-way bill in theory. In practice it is generated at a loading bay by someone with a printer and a truck waiting, and the consequences of getting it wrong land on a driver several hundred kilometres away.
2 min readOadbox
When one is required
Movement of goods above a notified consignment value generally requires an e-way bill, covering sales, branch transfers, job work, returns and goods sent for repair. The trigger is movement, not sale — which is the detail most often missed.
Some states set their own thresholds for movement wholly within the state, and certain goods are exempt. Both lists are worth printing and pinning up at the bay rather than looking up each time.
Part A and Part B are different jobs
Part A carries the invoice and consignment details and is usually generated with the invoice. Part B carries the vehicle number and can only be completed when the vehicle is known.
A bill with Part A alone is not valid for movement. Where a transporter is arranged late, Part B has to be updated by them before the vehicle leaves — a handoff that fails often enough to be worth a checklist.
- Vehicle changed mid-journey? Update Part B before it moves again.
- Transhipment at a hub? Each leg needs its vehicle recorded.
- Breakdown? Update the new vehicle, do not rely on the old bill.
- Multiple consignments in one vehicle? A consolidated bill covers them, but each still needs its own.
Validity runs on distance and does not pause
Validity is calculated from the distance to be covered and starts running from generation, not from departure. A bill generated on Friday evening for a Monday dispatch has spent most of its life in your yard.
Generate close to actual movement, and where a genuine delay occurs, extend within the permitted window rather than hoping nobody checks.
Reconcile bills against invoices weekly
Two gaps matter and both are invisible without a check: invoices dispatched with no bill, and bills generated for movements that never happened. The first is exposure at a checkpoint; the second is a mismatch waiting to be asked about.
A weekly reconciliation at the bay catches both while the people involved still remember the day.
Consignment value thresholds, intra-state exemptions and validity rules vary by state and change periodically. Confirm the position for your states of operation.
Written by the Oadbox team. Something here not match how it works in your business? We would genuinely like to hear it — connect@oadbox.com.