Billing and udhaar for every shop in West Bengal
Fish, sweets, cloth or kirana: the bill and the udhaar move from the khata notebook to your phone.
From the haal khata morning to the weaving-town wholesaler's credit
Haal khata day, with last year's dues in front of you
On the first day of the Bengali year the shop opens a new book, the neighbours come in for a sweet, and old accounts are settled. Put each family on its own page on your phone, and the old total stands there with its dates. You read it aloud over the counter, the family says yes or asks about one day, and you open that day's bill and show it.
Saptami morning, looking at the shelf before the wholesaler's gate shuts
In the Pujo weeks the sweet boxes, the sarees or the school bags run out in a day, and the wholesaler's stock does too. See on your phone which items are running low while there is still time. Send the order to the supplier from the same phone, and note what came in, so the shelf is filled before Ashtami and not after.
The rainy-day list that arrives as one message
Put the rice, the oil, the sweets or the school things on your own shop page and share it in the para's WhatsApp group. On a rainy afternoon a family picks from the page and sends one list, and you pack it and make the bill. That is one list on the phone in place of six voice notes and a call from the next lane.
Where a Bengal counter loses count: the Pujo rush, the para account and the rainy-day order
The bonus evenings, when the whole para shops on one slate
On the evenings before Pujo a family comes in to buy everything at once: new clothes, sweets, a gift for the aunt, a little extra for the children. Two rows form at the counter. One man takes six things and says he will settle once the bonus is paid, and you write in the notebook with one hand while the other gives change. On Dashami night you sit down with the cash box and cannot say which things went out for cash and which went on the slate.
The monthly account of the para
In a Bengal para the families know the shop and the shop knows them. Salary-day families take through the month and pay at its end, and each one has a slip in the notebook, another on a loose paper, and a third in your head. When the month closes, the sum you say and the sum they remember are two different numbers, and neither of you wants to start that talk across the counter.
A rainy week when the road is a river
In July and August the rain does not stop for days and nobody wants to walk to the shop. Orders arrive as phone calls and WhatsApp voice notes, and your boy writes them on whatever paper is near. Some are packed and sent with the wrong rate, and one family is billed twice while another is not billed at all.
Murshidabad silk, Shantipur dhotis and Dhaniakhali sarees: West Bengal by district
Every district in West Bengal trades in its own way. These are a few of the things people there make and grow, and what that does to the counter.
- Murshidabad is well known for excellent silk and is home to important silk weaving clusters making fine silk sarees, shirts and plain silk fabric.
- Shantipur in Nadia is famous for textiles; its weaving belt makes fine sarees, and Shantipur itself is known for superfine dhotis and jacquards.
- Dhaniakhali block in Hooghly is world famous for its handloom sarees, grows paddy and potato, and has a large number of potato cold storages.
- Paschim Medinipur artisans make madur mats and mat products such as baskets and bags; madur is the district's One District One Product, with a GI tag.
- Purba Medinipur is mainly farming land growing paddy, potato, vegetables and betelvine; produce is marketed mainly in local markets and nearby Kolkata.
What helps a shop in a Hooghly lane, a Kolkata market or a Howrah godown
Credit book (khata)
The page of the family that took six things in the Pujo rush and said it would pay after the bonus, with each thing dated on it.
Bills on your phone
A bill in seconds for the six things taken in the Pujo rush, sent on WhatsApp to the family that went home before the crowd cleared.
Orders to suppliers
A Pujo order to the wholesaler sent from your phone, and a note of what arrived, so you can tell the next morning whether it matches.
Your own online shop
A shop page that a para's WhatsApp group can open on a rainy afternoon, so the order reaches you as one list.
What West Bengal shop owners ask before they start
At Poila Boishakh I open a new khata for every family. Do I have to copy all the old dues into it?
No. A family's page on the phone runs on from bill to bill, so what they owe stands there with its dates. On haal khata day you open the page, read the total to the family, and note what they pay against it.
A para's Pujo committee orders snacks for its volunteers and pays after the days are over. Where do I note it?
Open a page in the committee's name and put each order on it with its day. When the committee settles up, you read the whole list out, and you can send each bill on WhatsApp.
A big family pays only after the Pujo bonus. Can I keep their bills open until then?
Yes. Put each sale on that family's page as it happens. After the bonus you read out the whole list with its dates, and each bill can go to them on WhatsApp.
Industry, fish and rice in the 24 Parganas and Barddhaman
North 24 Parganas has an industrial, urban zone in Bidhannagar and Barrackpore, a riverine belt in south Basirhat, and cultivable plains around Bongaon. A shop in each of those three places has its own kind of customer.
South 24 Parganas has 45,626 MSME units, and its fish industry is large: about 3.89 million quintals of fish were produced in 2021-22. Small shops there feed workers and families who live by the water and the market.
Rice is the main crop in Purba Barddhaman, which the district calls the only West Bengal district strong in both industry and agriculture. A shop there sees farm households and factory households at one counter.