GST
Goods Detained in Transit — E-Way Bill Validity and What Section 129 Actually Costs Now
The detention penalty changed on 1 January 2022 and a great deal of published guidance still quotes the old formula. This sets out the current section 129 numbers, the seven-day notice and order clocks that run in your favour, and the e-way bill validity rules — including the eight-hour extension window and the fact that validity runs from the minute the bill was generated.
On this page
A detained truck is one of the few GST problems that is costing you money by the hour. The goods are not reaching a customer, the vehicle is not earning, and the person on the ground usually has no idea what the numbers are.
They are worth knowing in advance, because they changed — and because the version most guidance still carries is the old one.
Quick answer
Under section 129(1)(a), if the owner comes forward, goods are released on payment of a penalty equal to 200% of the tax payable on them (exempted goods: 2% of value or ₹25,000, whichever is less). If the owner does not come forward, section 129(1)(b) makes it 50% of the value of the goods or 200% of the tax, whichever is higher. This is a penalty-only regime substituted with effect from 1 January 2022 — the old "applicable tax plus 100% penalty" formula is no longer the law.
Who this is for
Manufacturers and traders moving goods. E-commerce sellers shipping inventory. Anyone doing branch or warehouse transfers. And any finance team that has been handed a detention order and needs to know, today, what the exposure is and what clocks are running.
When an e-way bill is needed
Rule 138(1):
"Every registered person who causes movement of goods of consignment value exceeding fifty thousand rupees — (i) in relation to a supply; or (ii) for reasons other than supply; or (iii) due to inward supply from an unregistered person, shall, before commencement of such movement, furnish information relating to the said goods as specified in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01, electronically, on the common portal … and a unique number will be generated on the said portal"
Three limbs, and the second is the one people forget. It is not only about sales. A stock transfer between your own warehouses, a movement of material to a job worker, and an inward purchase from an unregistered supplier are all movements "for reasons other than supply" or under limb (iii), and all can require an e-way bill above the value threshold.
Part B carries the transporter and vehicle details. The unique number generated on Part A is valid fifteen days for updating Part B, under the second proviso to Rule 138(9).
One important scope caveat. This article states the CGST position. E-way bill requirements for intra-State movement are set by each State's own rules, and a State may adopt a different value threshold or different exempt categories. Confirm the position for each State you actually move goods in.
Who generates it
| Situation | Who furnishes Part A | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary case | The registered person causing the movement, before it commences | Rule 138(1) |
| Transporter authorised | The transporter, on authorisation from that person | Proviso to Rule 138(1) |
| Neither consignor nor consignee has generated it, inter-State, value over ₹50,000 | The transporter — except for rail, air and vessel | Rule 138(7) |
| Goods supplied through a platform | The e-commerce operator or courier agency may furnish it | Proviso to Rule 138(7) |
The obligation rarely vanishes. It moves. Which is why the useful thing to do is to name, in writing, who owns it for each of your dispatch lanes — the failures we see are almost always two parties each assuming the other had it.
Validity: measured from the minute, not the day
Rule 138(10) and its Table:
| Distance | Validity |
|---|---|
| Up to 200 km | One day (other than over-dimensional cargo, or multimodal with at least one leg by ship) |
| Every 200 km or part thereafter | One additional day |
| Up to 20 km | One day for over-dimensional cargo or multimodal with a ship leg |
| Every 20 km or part thereafter | One additional day for the same |
Two details decide real cases.
The distance slab changed. CBIC's own footnote to the rule records "100 km." as the superseded text, substituted with effect from 1 January 2021. Any internal calculator or vendor tool still working on 100 km per day is halving your validity and will have you extending bills you did not need to extend.
The clock runs from the minute of generation. Explanation 1:
"the 'relevant date' shall mean the date on which the e-way bill has been generated and the period of validity shall be counted from the time at which the e-way bill has been generated and each day shall be counted as the period expiring at midnight of the day immediately following the date of generation"
So a bill generated at 11:00 pm on a Monday expires at midnight on Tuesday — about twenty-five hours, not two days. Generating late in the evening for a dispatch that leaves in the morning quietly costs you most of a day of validity. Generate at the point of dispatch, not the point of invoicing.
The two short windows
Cancellation — twenty-four hours, and it closes on an event. Rule 138(9):
"Where an e-way bill has been generated under this rule, but goods are either not transported or are not transported as per the details furnished in the e-way bill, the e-way bill may be cancelled electronically on the common portal within twenty four hours of generation: Provided that an e-way bill cannot be cancelled if it has been verified in transit in accordance with the provisions of rule 138B"
So the twenty-four hours are not absolute. Once the consignment has been checked in transit, the cancellation route is gone even if you are well inside the day.
Extension — eight hours after expiry. The third proviso to Rule 138(10):
"Provided also that the validity of the e-way bill may be extended within eight hours from the time of its expiry."
And the second proviso allows the transporter, in exceptional circumstances including trans-shipment, to extend the validity after updating Part B where the goods cannot be transported within the validity period.
Eight hours is not long, and it starts when nobody is watching. This is the single most fixable cause of detention: a bill that lapsed overnight on a long-haul run, with a window that closed before anyone opened the portal.
Section 129: the numbers, as they now stand
Section 129(1) allows detention or seizure "where any person transports any goods or stores any goods while they are in transit in contravention of the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder". Note "stores": goods sitting in an unregistered godown mid-journey are within it, not only goods on a moving vehicle.
Release is on one of three bases:
| Where the owner comes forward — s.129(1)(a) | Where the owner does not — s.129(1)(b) | |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable goods | Penalty equal to 200% of the tax payable on such goods | 50% of the value of the goods or 200% of the tax payable, whichever is higher |
| Exempted goods | 2% of the value or ₹25,000, whichever is less | 5% of the value or ₹25,000, whichever is less |
Or, under clause (c), on furnishing security equivalent to the amount payable under (a) or (b).
This is a penalty-only regime, and that is the correction to make. CBIC's footnote to section 129 records the substitution of clauses (a) and (b) with effect from 1 January 2022, by Notification 39/2021-Central Tax under section 117(i) of the Finance Act 2021, and reproduces the superseded text — which read "on payment of the applicable tax and penalty equal to one hundred per cent. of the tax payable on such goods". That older formula is still repeated widely. It is not the law, and it produces a materially different number.
A worked example. Assume a consignment of taxable goods with a value of ₹8,00,000 at an assumed 18%, so ₹1,44,000 of tax. Assume it is detained for an expired e-way bill.
- Owner comes forward — section 129(1)(a): 200% of ₹1,44,000 = ₹2,88,000.
- Owner does not come forward — section 129(1)(b): the higher of 50% of ₹8,00,000 = ₹4,00,000, and
200% of ₹1,44,000 = ₹2,88,000 → ₹4,00,000.
- Under the superseded pre-2022 formula, for comparison: ₹1,44,000 tax + 100% penalty = ₹2,88,000 —
the same total by coincidence of the rate, but composed differently and computed on a different basis, which matters for credit and for how it is recorded.
The gap between coming forward and not is ₹1,12,000 on these numbers. Stepping forward is almost always the cheaper posture, and it is a decision often made in the first hour by someone who does not know the two clauses exist.
Figures are illustrative. The value and rate are assumptions stated so you can substitute your own; the percentages are from the section.
The clocks that run in your favour
Detention is not open-ended, and there are three protections worth knowing at the roadside rather than afterwards.
An order must be served before detention. The proviso to section 129(1): "no such goods or conveyance shall be detained or seized without serving an order of detention or seizure on the person transporting the goods."
Seven days, then seven days. Section 129(3): the proper officer "shall issue a notice within seven days of such detention or seizure, specifying the penalty payable, and thereafter, pass an order within a period of seven days from the date of service of such notice".
A hearing is mandatory. Section 129(4): "No penalty shall be determined under sub-section (3) without giving the person concerned an opportunity of being heard."
And section 129(5): on payment of the amount referred to in section 129(1), "all proceedings in respect of the notice specified in sub-section (3) shall be deemed to be concluded." Paying closes it.
If you do not pay
Section 129(6): where the person transporting the goods or the owner fails to pay the penalty within fifteen days from receipt of the copy of the section 129(3) order, the goods or conveyance "shall be liable to be sold or disposed of otherwise" to recover it.
Two provisos matter commercially:
- "the conveyance shall be released on payment by the transporter of penalty under sub-section (3) **or
one lakh rupees, whichever is less**" — so a transporter can generally get the vehicle back without funding the whole dispute, which is worth knowing when the owner of the goods and the owner of the truck are different people with different incentives.
- where the goods are perishable or hazardous or likely to depreciate with the passage of time, "the
said period of fifteen days may be reduced by the proper officer."
If you dispute the demand, the ordinary appeal route under section 107 applies — three months from communication, one further month for sufficient cause, and a pre-deposit of the admitted amount in full plus 10% of the disputed tax capped at ₹20 crore. But note the tension: the goods are usually more urgent than the argument. Paying under section 129(1) and appealing afterwards is frequently the commercial answer, and section 129(5) does not make payment an admission of anything beyond concluding those proceedings.
Preventing it, which is the whole point
Almost every detention we see traces to one of five things, and all five are process rather than law:
- The bill expired in transit and nobody caught the eight-hour extension window.
- Validity was computed on 100 km per day instead of the 200 km slab in force since 1 January 2021.
- Part B was never updated with the actual vehicle, or was updated after the fifteen days.
- Value or HSN on the bill did not match the invoice, which is a documents-in-transit problem under
Rule 138B.
- Nobody owned the generation for that lane, because the consignor assumed the transporter would.
Two structural fixes remove most of it. Generate at dispatch rather than at invoicing, so the validity clock starts when the goods actually move. And if you are in scope for e-invoicing, let the e-invoice data populate the e-way bill — that eliminates the value and HSN mismatch class entirely, because both documents come from the same record.
We set up that process, watch the clocks per consignment, and handle extensions and cancellations inside the windows that actually exist, under e-way bill support. If a detention order has already been served, the notice and reply work is handled as a GST notice reply — and the first thing to establish is which clause of section 129(1) the department is proceeding under, because on the numbers above that choice is usually worth more than the argument.
Sources and currency
Applies to: India, CGST Act 2017 and CGST Rules 2017 as in force on 20 August 2026
Section 129 and Rules 138 and 138B were read in full on CBIC's live repository on 20 August 2026, and the substituted text of section 129(1) carries CBIC's own footnote recording its substitution with effect from 1 January 2022 by Notification 39/2021-Central Tax under section 117(i) of the Finance Act 2021. Two limits are worth stating. E-way bill requirements for intra-State movement are set by each State's own rules, and the State instruments were not enumerated — the figures here are the CGST position and a State may differ, including on the value threshold and on exempted categories. And section 130 confiscation proceedings, which can follow in some cases, are outside the scope of this article.
- CGST Act 2017, section 129 — detention, seizure and release of goods and conveyances in transit
- CGST Act 2017, section 68 — inspection of goods in movement
- CGST Rules 2017, Rule 138 — e-way bill generation, cancellation and the validity table
- CGST Rules 2017, Rule 138B — verification of documents and conveyances in transit
- CGST Act 2017, section 122 — penalty for certain offences
- CGST Act 2017, section 107 — appeals to the Appellate Authority
- CGST Rules 2017, Rule 48 — e-invoicing, whose data can populate the e-way bill
Frequently asked questions
What is the penalty if goods are detained without a valid e-way bill?
It depends on whether the owner comes forward, and the formula changed on 1 January 2022. Under section 129(1)(a), where the owner of the goods comes forward for payment, release is on payment of a penalty equal to two hundred per cent of the tax payable on such goods — and in the case of exempted goods, an amount equal to two per cent of the value of the goods or twenty five thousand rupees, whichever is less. Under section 129(1)(b), where the owner does not come forward, it is a penalty equal to fifty per cent of the value of the goods or two hundred per cent of the tax payable on such goods, whichever is higher — and for exempted goods, five per cent of value or twenty five thousand rupees, whichever is less. Note that this is now a penalty-only regime. The earlier formulation of applicable tax plus a one hundred per cent penalty was substituted with effect from 1 January 2022 and is no longer the law, though it is still widely republished.
How long is an e-way bill valid?
Under the Table in Rule 138(10): one day for a distance up to 200 km, and one additional day for every 200 km or part thereof after that. For over-dimensional cargo, and for multimodal shipments in which at least one leg involves transport by ship, it is one day for up to 20 km and one additional day for every 20 km or part. Two details decide real cases. The 200 km slab replaced 100 km with effect from 1 January 2021, so any calculator still using 100 km halves your validity. And under Explanation 1 the period of validity is counted from the time at which the e-way bill was generated, with each day counted as the period expiring at midnight of the day immediately following the date of generation — so a bill generated at 11 pm gets roughly an hour of its first day.
Can an expired e-way bill be extended?
Yes, but the window is eight hours. The third proviso to Rule 138(10) provides that the validity of the e-way bill may be extended within eight hours from the time of its expiry. The second proviso separately allows the transporter to extend the validity after updating the details in Part B of FORM GST EWB-01 where, under circumstances of an exceptional nature including trans-shipment, the goods cannot be transported within the validity period. There is no route to extend a bill that expired days ago, so this is a monitoring problem rather than a paperwork one — somebody has to be watching at the moment it matters.
Can I cancel an e-way bill if the shipment does not go?
Within twenty-four hours, and not once it has been checked. Rule 138(9) allows an e-way bill to be cancelled electronically on the common portal within twenty four hours of generation where the goods are either not transported or are not transported as per the details furnished. Its first proviso is the limit that catches people: an e-way bill cannot be cancelled if it has been verified in transit in accordance with Rule 138B. So once a vehicle has been checked, the twenty-four hours no longer help. A second proviso provides that the unique number generated under Rule 138(1) remains valid for fifteen days for updating Part B.
How long does the department have to act after detaining my goods?
Short periods, and they run in your favour. Section 129(3) requires the proper officer detaining or seizing goods or a conveyance to issue a notice within seven days of the detention or seizure specifying the penalty payable, and thereafter to pass an order within seven days from the date of service of that notice. Section 129(4) provides that no penalty shall be determined without giving the person concerned an opportunity of being heard. And the proviso to section 129(1) provides that no goods or conveyance shall be detained or seized without serving an order of detention or seizure on the person transporting the goods. Those are procedural protections worth knowing at the roadside, not only afterwards.
What happens if I do not pay the section 129 penalty?
Section 129(6) provides that where the person transporting the goods or the owner fails to pay the penalty within fifteen days from the date of receipt of the copy of the order passed under section 129(3), the goods or conveyance detained or seized shall be liable to be sold or otherwise disposed of to recover the penalty. Two provisos qualify that. The conveyance shall be released on payment by the transporter of the penalty under section 129(3) or one lakh rupees, whichever is less — so a transporter can usually recover the vehicle without funding the whole dispute. And where the goods are perishable or hazardous or likely to depreciate in value with the passage of time, the fifteen-day period may be reduced by the proper officer.
When is an e-way bill required at all?
Rule 138(1) requires every registered person who causes movement of goods of consignment value exceeding fifty thousand rupees — in relation to a supply, for reasons other than supply, or due to an inward supply from an unregistered person — to furnish the information in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01 electronically before the movement commences. Note the three limbs: it is not only sales. A stock transfer, a movement for job work or an inward supply from an unregistered person can all trigger it. For intra-State movement, each State's own rules govern and may set a different threshold or different exempt categories, so confirm the position for the States you move goods in.
Who has to generate the e-way bill if my transporter does not?
The primary obligation under Rule 138(1) sits with the registered person causing the movement, before it commences, and a proviso lets the transporter furnish Part A on authorisation from that person. Rule 138(7) then covers the gap: where neither the consignor nor the consignee has generated it and the aggregate consignment value in the conveyance exceeds fifty thousand rupees, the transporter must generate it in respect of an inter-State supply — except where goods are transported by railways, air or vessel — and may also generate a consolidated e-way bill in FORM GST EWB-02. A further proviso allows an e-commerce operator or a courier agency to furnish the information in Part A where goods move through them. The obligation rarely disappears; it moves, which is why it needs to be owned explicitly in your dispatch process.
Related MFA services
If you want this handled rather than done yourself, these are the matching services.
Written by
MyFinancialAdvisory Editorial
Editorial guidance prepared for business owners and reviewed before production publication.
Written against official sources, with the governing rule named wherever a figure or deadline is given. General guidance — not advice on your specific case.
Ready to act?
Most detentions are diary problems, not legal ones
We set up your e-way bill process, watch the validity clock per consignment, and handle extensions and cancellations inside the windows that actually exist — so the question of what section 129 costs never arises.
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