Batch-wise billing for food and beverage distributors protects the few months a product has on the shelf, and Takkada's Price by batch setting lets you do it from the phone. On a sales-invoice line, the Batch box lists each batch of that juice, snack or sauce with stock left in the godown and its Mfg and Exp dates, as your Tally books hold them, along with its MRP. Batches already past expiry drop to the bottom with a red Expired label. Your clerk reads the Exp on each row and picks the batch that should go out first. The line takes that batch's rate: its MRP first, then the last rate that batch sold at, then the rate already on the line, and he can type over it. A second batch goes on its own line. The retailer's PDF prints the batch with Mfg and Exp under the item, and Tally receives the same batch, with its dates when known.
When the calendar is the risk
You distribute packaged juice, namkeen, biscuits and sauces to 220 retailers and a few canteens on 7-day credit. Juice gives you about six months from manufacture. Namkeen gives you three or four. Many retailers refuse stock that arrives with less than half its life left, and many send back what is about to expire.
Every week you lose margin two ways: older stock that nobody sent out in time, and returns from shops that received the newer stock while the older one waited. Neither shows up until somebody walks the godown with a register.
Reading the expiry while billing
With Price by batch on, tap the Batch box on a sales-invoice line. For a mango drink with three batches you might see:
MD2607, 30 left, withMfg 20-Jul-2026 · Exp 19-Jan-2027under itMD2609, 120 left, withMfg 18-Sep-2026 · Exp 17-Mar-2027under itMD2603, 4 left, red Expired label, at the bottom
The list follows batch name, with expired stock at the bottom. The app does not choose for you, so the rule of sending the older batch first stays with your clerk, and he now has the dates in front of him on the phone instead of in a register. Naming batches year first and then month, as above, keeps name order close to date order.
The rate on the line
The batch MRP fills the rate first: as it is in an Incl. GST bill, with GST taken out in an Excl. GST bill. Retailers buy below MRP, so type your trade rate and the line keeps it. If your Tally batches carry no MRP, the line opens at the last rate you sold that batch at, then at the rate already on the line.
What the retailer and Tally see
The retailer's PDF prints MD2607 · Mfg 20-Jul-2026 · Exp 19-Jan-2027 under the item. If he later calls about short shelf life, the dates are on his copy. In Tally, the sales voucher carries the batch on each line, with Mfg and expiry when known, so your batch-wise stock moves with each bill.
Limits worth knowing
Batches and their dates come from the purchase entered in Tally. The app does not create batches or raise near-expiry alerts; the red label covers stock already past its date. Price by batch works on sales invoices, while sales orders and credit notes for returns do not take the batch picker today. The batch-wise billing guide covers the full rules, and if you also carry nutrition or OTC lines, see the Tally app for pharma distributors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Does the app pick the nearest-expiry batch automatically?
A: No. It shows each batch's Exp in the list and your clerk picks.
Q: Will the retailer see the expiry on the bill?
A: Yes, when Tally holds the batch dates and the batch was picked with Price by batch on.
Q: Does it alert me before stock expires?
A: It has no near-expiry alert. Expired batches show a red label in the batch list.
Q: Can one bill carry two batches of the same item?
A: Yes. Each batch gets its own line and rate.
Talk to us
WhatsApp us at https://wa.me/919435977777 with your shortest-life item and we will show you its batches on the phone.