Billing for your supermarket in Madhya Pradesh
The kilo of oranges, the packet of tea and the mess's monthly sacks, on one phone.
Indore's trade and Rewa's mangoes at the fruit counter
A supermarket in Madhya Pradesh draws on the trade of the biggest district and the fruit of another.
- Indore is called a commercial capital, and soyabean is a kharif crop grown in most of the district.
- The mango of Rewa, called Sundarja, has a GI tag. Its first export, to the UAE in June 2026, was bought at Rs 150 a kg, against Rs 100 to 110 locally.
A crate of oranges that leaves as kilos, dozens and pieces, a soybean oil tag that lags the mandi and a craft shelf nobody counts
A crate of oranges that goes out as kilos, dozens and single pieces
The fruit counter buys oranges by the crate and sells them by the kilo, by the dozen and sometimes one to a child, while the crate that came in at the gate is only a number on a slip. The oranges that left were weighed by hand. By evening nobody can say how many kilos the crate held or how many went soft.
The soybean oil rate moves with the mandi, and the shelf tag does not
In a soybean state the oil's rate moves with the mandi. The shelf tag is changed by hand on some days and not on others, so the tin on the left shelf and the tin on the right carry two rates for the same oil. The cashier charges what the tag says, a customer points to the other tag, and the owner gives the difference from his own pocket.
The craft shelf in the corner that nobody counts
Near the door a shelf holds a few block-printed stoles and some hand-made things from nearby villages. They sell twice a week. Each has a different rate, and none has a count except the helper's memory, so the shelf is full of one thing and empty of another, and nobody knows.
Tools for a Madhya Pradesh supermarket's sections
Bills on your phone
Oranges by the kilo, packed tea by the piece and a stole from the craft shelf on one bill, each in its own unit.
Daily reports
The fruit counter's kilos and the craft shelf's pieces on separate lines, read together at the end of the week.
Godown stock
The crate store at the back counted apart from the fruit counter in front.
Sell to other businesses
A small shop near the station takes sealed packets of Indori sev on credit for the visitors' trains. Its page shows the packets it took and what it paid, and the loose sev on your own counter stays a separate item.
The crate counted down by the kilo, the craft shelf by the piece and the mess that applies
The crate goes into stock as kilos and comes down with every sale
Enter the oranges in kilos when the crate arrives, and each sale takes its weight off the count. By evening the count says how many kilos should remain, and the gap is what went soft or was given as a taste. It stops being a guess.
Each stole and hand-made piece on the corner shelf is counted as one
Make each stole and each hand-made thing an item sold by the piece, with its own rate. A sale takes one off the corner shelf's count, and at the end of the week the report shows which crafts sold and which stayed.
Monthly sacks of flour and tins of soybean oil, each with the day it left the store
Once the mess has applied and you have said yes, its month goes on its page as the sacks of flour and the tins of soybean oil that left the store, each with its day. At month end the mess reads the page, and you read the same page against the dates the stock left.
Women's groups whose bills and stock came onto one phone
What supermarket owners in Madhya Pradesh ask
A sealed packet of sev comes back with a torn seal. How do I note it?
Make a new bill for the loose sev she takes in its place, by weight, so the loose count goes down by that weight. The torn packet is not sold again, so keep it out of the packet count when you count the shelf.
A Bagh-print stole in natural red and black stands beside the tea and sev. How do I keep it apart from the groceries?
Give the stole its own items, named for the print and its colour, each by the piece. The report lists the stoles on their own lines, apart from the groceries, so the corner shelf is never lost in the grocery total.
Indori sev is weighed loose on the counter and also sold in sealed packets for the visitors' trains. Can I keep both?
Yes. Weigh the loose sev for the town and bill it by weight, and seal the packets for the trains and bill them by the piece. At the week's end the report shows which one the town chose and which one the visitors chose.
A woman leaves her stoles now and wants her money only after they sell. What do I note?
Count the stoles she leaves and tell her the number. As they sell, pay her for the ones gone and nothing for the rest. The stoles still on the shelf stay unpaid until they sell.
The Bagh print on a craft shelf and the Chhindwara oranges at the fruit counter
Bagh print, a hand block print in natural red and black colours made at Bagh village, is Dhar district's One District One Product. A store that sets aside a shelf for local crafts gives each print its own item and its own rate, so the craft shelf is read apart from the groceries.
Oranges grown in the Sausar and Pandhurna areas of Chhindwara, near the Maharashtra border, are supplied to Nagpur, the Orange City. A store in the state buys oranges by the crate and sells them by the kilo, so the crate and the kilo are two different counts.