Industry playbook
Steel & iron traders
How steel and iron traders automate weight billing, daily rates and GST with hisabkitab
Consider a steel and iron trader in an industrial belt selling TMT bars, angles, channels, pipes and sheets to fabricators, contractors and small manufacturers. Most loads are truck-sized, prices move almost daily, and the business buys from mills and stockists while selling to dozens of credit customers.
See hisabkitab for Steel & iron traders →
The challenges
The unit problem behind every steel bill
Pieces, metres and kilograms on one bill
A fabricator orders 40 pieces of 12-metre angle but the price is per kilogram. Staff look up the weight-per-metre chart, multiply, and type the result. Theoretical weight and weighbridge weight rarely match, and the difference has to be explained on every disputed bill.
Prices that change every morning
Mill rates and market rates move daily. Updating dozens of sizes by hand means some items are still on yesterday's rate when the first truck is billed, and the trader either loses margin or argues with a customer about a stale quote.
Heavy loads, heavy compliance
Almost every load crosses the e-way bill limit, many travel between states, and transporter and vehicle details change at the last minute. Re-keying the same values into a portal for every truck is slow and invites mismatches with the invoice.
Fake or mismatched input credit
Steel has a history of fake-invoice rings. A trader who claims input tax credit on a bill that never shows up in GSTR-2B, or comes from a cancelled GSTIN, risks reversal with interest. Manual matching every month is tedious and easy to skip.
Thin margins hidden in averages
Margins on steel are slim, and a trader rarely knows which size, grade or customer actually makes money once freight, loading and credit days are counted. Monthly totals look fine while specific lines lose money.
A day in the life
A day before vs after hisabkitab
Before
Rate list is rewritten on a whiteboard every morning; billing staff update a few items and forget the rest.
Kilograms are worked out from a weight chart on paper, then typed into the invoice.
E-way bills are generated on the portal after the truck is loaded, re-entering every value.
At month-end the accountant ticks purchase bills against GSTR-2B line by line in Excel.
With hisabkitab
Morning rates are updated in bulk through the Price List, so every size is on today's rate before the first bill.
Staff enter pieces and length; the weight-per-metre formula writes kilograms into quantity.
The e-way bill is generated in one click from the invoice, with vehicle and transporter on the bill.
AI GST reconciliation matches GSTR-2B with the purchase register and flags anything missing or mismatched.
Solutions
How hisabkitab solves it
Mixed units on one bill
Multi-UOM + Custom Field formula
Store weight-per-metre as an item field. The formula Total kg = Pieces × Length × Weight-per-metre fills the quantity, and Multi-UOM lets the same item be counted in pieces in the yard and billed in kilograms.
Daily rate changes
Price List with bulk update
Maintain a price list per customer type and update it in bulk each morning. Staff never type a rate by hand, so yesterday's price cannot slip onto today's truck.
Theoretical vs actual weight
Custom Field (Transaction level)
Capture weighbridge weight and slip number on the invoice alongside the theoretical weight. Disputes are settled by looking at the bill rather than hunting for a paper slip.
E-way bills on every truck
One-click e-way bill & e-invoice
Generate e-way bills and IRNs from the saved invoice with no re-entry. Advanced removes the annual cap, which matters when nearly every bill is a truckload.
Risky input tax credit
Automated GST Reconciliation + IMS actions
AI matches GSTR-2B with your purchase register and flags value mismatches, invoices only in 2B and invoices only in your books. Act on supplier invoices in the GST Invoice Management System before they flow into your return.
Hidden thin margins
Item-wise and Bill-wise Profit Reports
See profit per size, grade and invoice. Combine with ledger-level fields such as area or credit grade to spot customers whose long credit cycles eat the margin.
Heavy purchase-bill entry
OCR Purchase Bill Import (AI)
Drop mill and stockist invoices as PDFs or photos. AI reads GSTIN, invoice number, HSN, lines and tax; you review and save, and the purchase register is ready for reconciliation.
Inside the software
Built for your books
Custom formula example
Total kg = Pieces × Length (m) × Weight-per-metre (kg/m). Example: 40 pcs × 6 m × 4.5 kg/m (ISA 65×65×6) = 1,080 kg at ₹58/kg = ₹62,640 before GST.
4-level grouping
Items: Structural → Angle → Mill A → 65×65×6. Customers: Area → Buyer type (Fabricator) → Salesman → Party.
Reports you’ll use
Price List · Item-wise Profit Report · Bill-wise Profit Report · Customer Outstanding Report · GST Report · Dispatch Report
Compliance notes
Most iron and steel products attract 18% GST; confirm the HSN for each product line. Almost every load needs an e-way bill, and inter-state movement makes GSTIN and Part B accuracy critical. Given past enforcement on fake invoicing in the metals trade, reconcile GSTR-2B every month before claiming input tax credit, and keep an eye on income-tax TDS or TCS on high-value purchases and sales of goods as notified under current law.
Recommended plan
The plan that fits
Advanced
₹6,999/year, exclusive of 18% GST (or ₹13,999 for 3 years)
Truckload billing means hundreds of e-way bills a year, so unlimited e-way bills, AI GST reconciliation, OCR for mill invoices and Audit Trail make Advanced the safer fit. A small single-counter hardware-and-steel shop can start on Boost.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
Can I bill steel in kilograms when the customer orders pieces?
Yes. Keep weight-per-metre as an item field and enter pieces and length on the bill. The formula computes kilograms and writes it into quantity, so the bill is priced per kg while the customer still sees the piece count and length they asked for.
How do I update rates every morning without editing each item?
Use the Price List on Boost or Advanced. Keep separate lists for, say, fabricators and contractors, and update them in bulk when mill or market rates change. Every new bill picks up the current rate automatically, so nobody bills off yesterday's whiteboard.
Can hisabkitab help me avoid claiming credit on a bad invoice?
On Advanced, AI GST reconciliation compares GSTR-2B with your purchase register and flags invoices missing from 2B or with value differences. Combined with GSTIN auto-fill, which pulls supplier details from the live GST database, it gives you an early warning before you claim credit.
What about weighbridge differences?
Add a weighbridge weight and slip number field at transaction level. The invoice can be priced on actual weight while the theoretical weight stays visible for reference. When a customer questions a bill, the numbers are on the document itself instead of in a drawer.
Is there a limit on e-way bills?
Launch allows up to 400 e-way bills and e-invoices a year and Boost up to 1,500. Advanced is unlimited. Steel traders sending several trucks a day usually choose Advanced so the cap never becomes a reason to go back to the portal.
Bill steel by weight without the weight chart
Book a demo and we will set up weight-per-metre formulas and a bulk-update price list on your own sizes, and show AI reconciliation on a sample month of purchases.
