Billing for your hardware and paint shop in Maharashtra
Cement bags, rods by weight, paint by the litre and the contractor's site account, on one phone.
Before the rains, a Maharashtra hardware shop sells out in a fortnight
The leaking-roof fortnight before the rains
When the first rain is near, owners climb their roofs. For a fortnight everyone wants waterproofing compound, tarpaulin and pipe fittings, and a customer will not wait a day. You sell the last tin in the morning and a plumber asks for it in the afternoon. The godown holds many things, and the notebook knows none of them.
Sand by the brass, and the tempo that takes half
Sand is sold by the brass here, and nobody holds a brass in his hand. A customer wants it with his bags and his pipe, and the tempo takes half the goods now and the rest tomorrow. The second trip is added to the first only if somebody remembers, and the sand is the line that gets argued about.
Tinted paint that cannot go back on the shelf
In the weeks before Diwali, and again before the rains, customers come for paint. A tin is tinted to the shade they choose, and then it is theirs. If they change their mind or buy too much, the tinted tin sits at the back of the shop. You buy base paint in several sizes, and by the time the season is over you cannot say how many tins of which size are left.
From the first bag of cement to the last tin of tinted paint
The order that came in at night, loaded by morning
A building's secretary sends an order for fittings and paint from your own online shop after the evening meeting. In the morning you see it at the counter, make the bill, and the tempo is loaded before the site starts work.
Half the cement today and the balance after the slab
A first tempo takes half the order now, and that goes on a bill. The next trip is a second bill under the same name. Cement in bags, rods by the kilo and pipes by the metre appear in their own units, so a list of six things counted six ways adds up without a calculator.
A packet of nails, paid by UPI, with no hunt for change
A mason's helper buys a packet of nails and a roll of wire for his master. He pays by UPI from the QR code on the counter, and the bill is made in seconds. You do not run to the next shop for small change while the tempo waits outside.
Tools for the godown, the counter and the site account
Credit book (khata)
A site account for each contractor, with the building named on every delivery and the total ready when his client pays him.
Bills on your phone
A bill that mixes bags, kilos, metres and litres on one sale, each item with its own rate and unit.
GST bills
A GST bill for the tempo workshop lists the grease tin, the welding rods and the bolts line by line with the GST worked out beside each, so the workshop's accountant can read it at the month's end.
Godown stock
Godown stock for cement, rods and paint tins, kept separately from the counter's small items.
Orders to suppliers
An order to the paint company for the tins by size, written with the godown count in front of you.
Where iron, vehicles and city trade meet in Maharashtra
Hardware shops in Maharashtra buy what a few industrial and trading districts make and sell:
- Thane is third in Maharashtra for industry, and it makes chemicals, medicines, plastic and iron goods and powerloom fabrics.
- Pune district makes trucks, scooters, motorcycles and rickshaws, which means a market in nuts, bolts, tools and paint.
- In Nagpur, Sitabuldi is the city's main commercial market.
Questions Maharashtra hardware and paint shop owners ask
A contractor has three sites. Can his account show them separately?
Yes. Each delivery is added with the site named, so his page can be read building by building and paid that way.
Tempo drivers buy bolts and grease for their owners, and the owners pay at the month's end. How do I keep that?
Open a page in the owner's name and put each driver's buy on it with its day, the bolts and the grease as separate lines. At the month's end read the page down, send it to the owner's WhatsApp, and note what he pays.
Can I keep a tin of tinted paint separate from base paint?
Yes. A tinted tin is its own item with the shade named, and it comes off the base count when it is made.
In the leaking-roof fortnight, how much waterproofing compound do I have in the godown?
The godown count shows the tins of waterproofing compound apart from the brushes and nails on the counter, so you answer a contractor at the door without walking to the back. You also see before the fortnight peaks whether to order more.
A builder wants the rate of river sand against M-Sand before he orders. Where do I show him?
Put both on one bill in brass, one line each. The two rates sit one under the other, and he orders the one he chooses.
Sand by the brass and the state's policy on it
In May 2025 the Maharashtra Cabinet cleared a policy on artificial M-Sand, charging a royalty of Rs 200 per brass instead of Rs 600 per brass. A hardware shop near a building site hears about it from every contractor.
In April 2023 the Maharashtra Government announced a sand policy with state sand depots, on a pilot basis letting citizens buy sand at Rs 600 per brass for one year. A shop that sells to builders measures sand in this unit, so it is one of the units a bill has to know.