We study stability of linear time-varying differential-algebraic equations (DAEs). The Bohl exponent is introduced and finiteness of the Bohl exponent is characterized, the equivalence of exponential stability and a negative Bohl exponent is shown and shift properties are derived. We also show that the Bohl exponent is invariant under the set of Bohl transformations. For the class of DAEs which possess a transition matrix introduced in this paper, the Bohl exponent is exploited to characterize boundedness of solutions of a Cauchy problem and robustness of exponential stability.