FMCG billing for beverage and dairy distributors has to be quick and exact at the same time, because the van leaves early and every bottle, pouch and cup carries its own MRP and retailer margin. In Takkada, the owner sets the MRP and the margin on each stock item once, in the Billing Module. When the salesman or the billing clerk adds an item to a new sales invoice or sales order on the phone, the rate stays the MRP and the margin is applied by itself as the line's discount, worked as a divisor on the retailer's cost. A trade discount, if the company allows one, goes on the line as Discount 1 or Discount 2, never above the limit you set, and the margin itself is locked for staff. Invoices and sales orders sync to Tally with the discount on each item line. For the items you have set up, morning billing becomes picking items and quantities.
The beverage and dairy morning
A typical distributor in this trade supplies 120 to 200 outlets: kirana stores, bakeries, tea stalls, hotels and a few cold-storage counters. Supply is daily or every other day, and credit is short, often settled weekly. Soft drinks, juices and water come in several bottle sizes. Dairy adds flavoured milk, curd, buttermilk, paneer and ghee, each with its own MRP and its own margin from the company.
Volumes are high and margins per unit are thin. A rate that is off by fifty paise on a ₹20 bottle, across a few hundred bottles a day, is real money by the end of the month. And there is no time at 6 AM to check every line against a printed list.
Set the price structure once
The owner opens Settings, then Invoices, then Billing Module. Your Tally stock groups appear, such as Soft Drinks, Juices and Dairy, each showing how many items are set up. Open a group, tap an item and fill in:
- MRP (incl. GST), as printed on the bottle or pouch
- Retail Margin %, the margin the company gives the outlet
- Discount 1 % and Discount 2 %, the most a salesman may give, if any
Only the owner's login can set these. A salesman cannot edit them from his phone.
What a bill looks like
Take a ₹20 bottle where the company gives the outlet a 10% margin. The salesman adds 240 bottles. The cart shows "Discount 9.1%", because a 10% margin worked as a divisor is a 9.09% discount on MRP: the outlet buys at ₹20 ÷ 1.10. The invoice line shows the MRP as the rate, the discount with its rupee amount, and "Retail Margin: 10%" under it. The line total is worked with Tally's own paisa rounding, so it can sit a few paise away from a calculator's figure.
If a hotel account is owed the company's trade discount, the salesman opens the Item Discount sheet from the line and enters it as D1. A figure above your maximum is refused with "Cannot exceed" and the limit.
Repeat orders and returns
If the outlet's order was saved first as a sales order, the invoice made from it keeps the rate the order quoted, so the margin is not applied twice. Credit notes for expired or damaged stock are left alone, and so are purchase bills from the company.
For the rate logic in full, read the FMCG billing software for Tally guide, or see the MRP-based billing for Tally page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why does a 10% margin show as a 9.1% discount?
A: The margin is stated on the outlet's cost. At 10%, the outlet buys at MRP ÷ 1.10, which is 9.09% off MRP. The label shows one decimal; the bill uses 9.09%.
Q: Does every line need a margin?
A: No. Items without a margin set, such as loose paneer sold by weight, bill at the usual rate from Tally.
Q: Can the van salesman change the margin on the spot?
A: Not on the Item Discount sheet, where the Retailer margin box is greyed out for everyone but the owner. A rate he types by hand replaces the MRP on that line instead.
Get started
WhatsApp us at https://wa.me/919435977777 and we will set up your beverage and dairy groups with you.