Buying guides
Kirana Store Billing Software: How to Move Your Shop From the Notebook to a POS
A kirana sells hundreds of small items to the same families every week, often on credit, usually in a hurry. Billing software earns its place only if the counter gets faster, not slower. Here is what to look for, and a plan to switch over a weekend.
Key takeaways
- Speed first: barcode scanning for packed goods and photo tiles for loose items.
- Loose items need units — kg, g, litre — with the price following the weight.
- Your credit book moves into the software: each customer’s balance, with reminders.
- Stock goes down as you bill, so the reorder list is right before the distributor visits.
What a kirana needs from billing software
| Need | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Fast counter | Barcode scanner support, search as you type, photo tiles for loose items |
| Loose items | Units in kg, g, litre, pieces; decimal quantities |
| Credit customers | Bill on credit, see each customer’s balance, send reminders |
| Payments | Cash, UPI and split payments; a UPI QR for the exact amount |
| Stock | Stock that updates with sales and purchases; low-stock list |
| GST | HSN and GST rate per item; GSTR-1 and 3B figures |
| Offline | Keeps billing when the internet drops |
Barcodes and loose items
Most packed goods already carry an EAN barcode, so scanning adds them in a beep. Rice, dal, sugar and oil sold loose need a different approach: an item per product with a rate per kg, picked from a photo tile, with the weight typed in.
For items you pack yourself — 1 kg bags of sugar, 500 g of dal — print your own barcode labels so they scan like any branded product.
Bringing the credit book (khata) across
- 1Add your regular credit customers with their phone numbers.
- 2Enter each one’s current balance as an opening balance.
- 3From then on, bill them on credit at the counter; payments reduce the balance.
- 4At month-end, send each a statement or a reminder on WhatsApp.
UPI at the counter
A static QR on the wall works, but you cannot tell whose payment is whose. A QR printed on the bill or shown on a customer screen for exactly the amount due, with the bill reference, makes each payment easy to match. UPI payments to merchants carry no MDR for the shop.
Do you need GST registration?
A shop selling only goods must register once its turnover crosses ₹40 lakh in most states (₹20 lakh in some special category states), or earlier if it sells across states. A small kirana can also choose the composition scheme and pay a flat 1% on turnover, issuing bills of supply.
Below the threshold you can still use billing software without GST — the bills simply carry no tax.
A weekend plan to switch
- 1Saturday morning: create the account, set the business details and GST status.
- 2Saturday afternoon: import your items from Excel or the built-in grocery catalogue; add rates and opening stock for the top 100.
- 3Saturday evening: add credit customers and their balances.
- 4Sunday: bill real sales on the software alongside the notebook for a day.
- 5Monday: bill on the software only; add missing items as they come up.
Frequently asked questions
Is there free billing software for a kirana store?
TripleBill is not free, but every new business gets a 7-day free trial with everything unlocked, and no card is needed. After that, Starter at ₹299 a month covers billing, stock, customers, barcode billing, credit (udhar) and GST reports. Some other apps are free on mobile with limits.
Can I bill without a computer?
Yes. An Android phone can bill, scan barcodes with its camera and print to a Bluetooth or USB thermal printer through the Android print service.
How do I sell items by weight?
Set the item’s unit to kg or g with a rate per unit, and enter the weight at the counter.
About the author
Written by the TripleBill team, the people who build the billing and accounting software this site is about. We check competitor prices on their own websites on the date shown above, and we say so when our product is the weaker choice. This article is general information, not tax advice.
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