PIN-to-PIN Distance in E-Way Bills and E-Invoices

Every e-way bill carries a distance, and the portal does not simply take your word for it. It works out the approximate road distance between the dispatch and delivery PIN codes, and checks what you declare against that figure. This guide explains the PIN-to-PIN distance in e-invoices and e-way bills: how it is calculated, how much above it you may go, what to put in the distance field of an e-invoice, the cases the master does not cover, and the errors you see when the number is wrong.

The distance rules in one table

How the portal calculates PIN-to-PIN distance

The e-way bill system keeps a master of approximate road distances between PIN codes. When you generate a bill, it takes the PIN code of the place of dispatch and the PIN code of the place of delivery from Part A and looks up the pair. The figure it returns is shown on screen as the calculated distance, and it becomes the reference for the limit on what you can declare.

Note which PIN codes are used. They are the dispatch-from and ship-to PIN codes, not necessarily the supplier's and buyer's registered addresses. Where goods leave a warehouse or go to a site, the distance is worked out from those locations, so the dispatch and ship-to details must be right before the distance can be.

The 10% leeway above the calculated figure

Roads are not straight and the master is an approximation, so the portal lets you declare the actual distance of the route, up to 10% more than the calculated PIN-to-PIN figure. If the calculated distance is 500 km, you may enter anything up to 550 km. There is no corresponding floor worth relying on: declaring less than the real distance only shortens your own validity.

Above all of this sits an overall ceiling of 4,000 km. No e-way bill can declare more, which in practice covers any road movement within India.

Entering distance in an e-invoice

An e-invoice can carry e-way bill details, so that the IRP generates the e-way bill with the IRN in one step (the relationship is covered in e-way bill vs e-invoice). The e-way bill block of the e-invoice schema has a distance field in kilometres, and the same rules apply to it:

• Send 0 and the system calculates the PIN-to-PIN distance and uses it on the e-way bill. This is the safest default for billing software, because it can never exceed the limit.
• Send a figure and it must be no more than 10% above the calculated distance, and no more than 4,000 km. Otherwise the e-way bill part of the request fails.
• For same-PIN movements, or PIN pairs the master does not hold, send the actual distance, since there is nothing to calculate from.

The response returns the e-way bill number and its validity, which reflects the distance finally used. It is worth storing that distance against the invoice, so that the figure on the e-way bill can be traced later. If you generate e-invoices on the portal rather than through software, see e-invoice portal login for access.

Same PIN code, and PIN pairs not in the master

When the dispatch and delivery PIN codes are the same — a delivery across town, or between two units in the same area — the system has no distance to calculate. You enter a small distance yourself, and the portal allows up to 100 km in this case.

Some PIN pairs, usually involving newer or remote PIN codes, are not in the distance master. The portal then accepts the distance you enter. Enter the real road distance: the figure is still what validity is based on, and a number far from reality is something a proper officer can question.

Looking up the distance before you generate

The e-way bill portal has a search option for PIN-to-PIN distance, available without logging in: enter the two PIN codes and it shows the distance held in the master. It is useful for checking a figure before quoting delivery times, or for working out the limit before entering the distance by hand. The step-by-step generation flow is in how to generate an e-way bill.

Why the number matters: validity

The declared distance decides how long the e-way bill is valid: one day for every 200 km or part thereof for regular cargo, and one day for every 20 km or part thereof for over-dimensional cargo. A wrong distance therefore means the wrong number of days. The full table, when the clock starts and how extension works are in e-way bill validity and distance; moving goods after validity lapses carries the exposure set out in e-way bill penalty and detention.

Common distance errors and fixes

Frequently asked questions