[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":902},["ShallowReactive",2],{"post-/blog/gross-profit-vs-net-profit-india":3},{"post":4,"related":308},{"id":5,"title":6,"author":7,"body":8,"date":293,"description":294,"extension":295,"image":296,"meta":297,"navigation":298,"path":299,"seo":300,"stem":301,"tags":302,"__hash__":307},"blog/blog/gross-profit-vs-net-profit-india.md","Sales Are Good But There's No Money: Gross Profit vs Net Profit for Indian Shops (2026)","Setuverse Team",{"type":9,"value":10,"toc":282},"minimark",[11,15,43,48,51,134,137,142,146,152,158,161,165,168,178,184,190,196,200,203,209,215,218,222,225,228,232,235,248,252,258,264,270,276],[12,13,6],"h1",{"id":14},"sales-are-good-but-theres-no-money-gross-profit-vs-net-profit-for-indian-shops-2026",[16,17,18],"blockquote",{},[19,20,21,25,26,29,30,34,35,38,39,42],"p",{},[22,23,24],"strong",{},"Quick answer:"," ",[22,27,28],{},"Gross profit"," is sales minus what the goods cost you — it tells you whether your ",[31,32,33],"em",{},"pricing and buying"," work. ",[22,36,37],{},"Net profit"," is what is left after rent, salaries, electricity and everything else — it tells you whether the ",[31,40,41],{},"business"," works. A shop can have perfectly healthy gross profit and still lose money every month, which is exactly what \"sales are good but there's no cash\" usually means. The fix is not selling more; it is finding out which of the two numbers is broken, and they have completely different remedies.",[44,45,47],"h2",{"id":46},"the-two-numbers-on-one-month","The two numbers, on one month",[19,49,50],{},"Take a kirana store turning over ₹8,00,000 in a month.",[52,53,54,69],"table",{},[55,56,57],"thead",{},[58,59,60,63,66],"tr",{},[61,62],"th",{},[61,64,65],{},"Amount",[61,67,68],{},"What it tells you",[70,71,72,84,95,109,120],"tbody",{},[58,73,74,78,81],{},[75,76,77],"td",{},"Sales",[75,79,80],{},"₹8,00,000",[75,82,83],{},"Turnover. On its own, it tells you nothing about profit",[58,85,86,89,92],{},[75,87,88],{},"Cost of goods sold",[75,90,91],{},"₹6,80,000",[75,93,94],{},"What you paid your distributors for what you sold",[58,96,97,101,106],{},[75,98,99],{},[22,100,28],{},[75,102,103],{},[22,104,105],{},"₹1,20,000 (15%)",[75,107,108],{},"Your pricing and buying are working",[58,110,111,114,117],{},[75,112,113],{},"Rent, salaries, power, delivery, interest",[75,115,116],{},"₹1,05,000",[75,118,119],{},"The cost of being open",[58,121,122,126,131],{},[75,123,124],{},[22,125,37],{},[75,127,128],{},[22,129,130],{},"₹15,000 (1.9%)",[75,132,133],{},"What the owner actually earned",[19,135,136],{},"Nothing here is unusual. The gross margin is respectable for groceries. And the owner has worked a full month for ₹15,000 — less than the person behind the counter. That gap between 15% and 1.9% is where most small-business frustration lives, and you cannot see it if you only look at sales.",[19,138,139],{},[31,140,141],{},"The figures above are illustrative, chosen to show the arithmetic rather than to describe any particular shop.",[44,143,145],{"id":144},"which-number-is-broken-they-have-opposite-fixes","Which number is broken? They have opposite fixes",[19,147,148,151],{},[22,149,150],{},"If gross profit is thin,"," the problem is in buying and pricing. Selling more makes it worse, because every extra sale carries the same bad margin. What helps: renegotiating with suppliers, comparing quotes before ordering, spotting the items you sell most of at the worst margin, and checking whether freight and unloading are being counted as part of what goods cost.",[19,153,154,157],{},[22,155,156],{},"If gross profit is healthy but net profit is thin,"," the problem is overheads. Buying better will not save you. What helps: knowing which categories the money goes into, and confronting the two or three largest ones.",[19,159,160],{},"Most owners assume they have the first problem and actually have the second. The reason is that cost of goods is visible — you pay the distributor and you feel it — while overheads arrive in dribs and drabs and never get added up.",[44,162,164],{"id":163},"the-categories-that-decide-it-by-trade","The categories that decide it, by trade",[19,166,167],{},"The expenses that quietly dominate are different for each kind of business, and general accounting software does not name any of them.",[19,169,170,173,174,177],{},[22,171,172],{},"Restaurants."," Food cost is the number everyone watches, but the one that surprises people is ",[22,175,176],{},"delivery aggregator commission",". Commission on a food-delivery order typically runs in the range of 18–30% of order value depending on the platform and the deal, and it is not rent, not marketing, and not cost of goods. Put it in the wrong place and your food cost percentage looks wrong and you will spend months trying to fix a kitchen that is fine. Also worth their own lines: kitchen fuel, linen and laundry, crockery breakage, and staff meals.",[19,179,180,183],{},[22,181,182],{},"Bars."," Excise licence fees are large, annual, and easy to forget when you are looking at a monthly statement — then they arrive and the month looks catastrophic. Tracking them separately, and knowing the yearly figure, makes the month they fall in explicable. Glassware breakage is small per incident and surprisingly large per year.",[19,185,186,189],{},[22,187,188],{},"Pharmacies."," Licence renewals, cold-chain running costs, and expiry write-offs. The last one is not an expense people record at all — stock is simply gone — which makes margin look better than it is right up until the stock count.",[19,191,192,195],{},[22,193,194],{},"Kirana stores."," Delivery wages and packaging. Free home delivery is a service most kiranas now offer and very few price, and it is the difference between a 15% gross margin and a 2% net one.",[44,197,199],{"id":198},"why-raw-material-is-not-an-expense","Why raw material is not an expense",[19,201,202],{},"This is the distinction that makes both numbers mean something, and it is where most shop bookkeeping goes wrong.",[19,204,205,208],{},[22,206,207],{},"What you buy to sell is cost of goods."," It becomes stock, sits on your books until it sells, and is subtracted to get gross profit.",[19,210,211,214],{},[22,212,213],{},"What you spend to keep the doors open is an operating expense."," It is gone the moment you pay it, and is subtracted to get net profit.",[19,216,217],{},"Rice bought for the kitchen is cost of goods. The cook's salary is an expense. Put the rice in the wrong bucket and your gross margin is fiction. This is also why purchases and expenses are worth recording separately rather than in one long list of payments — a single \"money out\" ledger cannot produce either number.",[44,219,221],{"id":220},"the-one-habit-that-makes-this-work","The one habit that makes this work",[19,223,224],{},"Categorise expenses at the moment you record them, not at year end.",[19,226,227],{},"Sorting twelve months of payments in March is a job nobody finishes, so it does not get done, so the only number anyone knows is turnover. Thirty seconds when the bill is paid — and a photo of it attached — gives you a statement you can read at the end of the month while you can still do something about it.",[44,229,231],{"id":230},"where-software-fits","Where software fits",[19,233,234],{},"Any system that makes you invent your own expense categories is asking you to do the hard part yourself, and most owners answer with three categories and a lot of \"miscellaneous\".",[19,236,237,242,243,247],{},[238,239,241],"a",{"href":240},"/expense-management-software","Setuverse expense management"," sets up the chart for you: a core set every business needs, plus a pack for your trade — restaurants get food cost, kitchen fuel, linen and laundry, aggregator commission and staff meals; bars additionally get liquor, beer and wine cost, excise licence fees, glassware breakage and entertainment. Cost of goods is filled in from your ",[238,244,246],{"href":245},"/purchase-procurement-software","purchases",", so the gross and net figures come out of what already happened rather than from a spreadsheet you maintain separately. Both are part of the ₹2,999/year plan, and both are visible only to owner and admin accounts.",[44,249,251],{"id":250},"faq","FAQ",[19,253,254,257],{},[22,255,256],{},"What is a good net profit margin for a small shop in India?","\nIt varies enormously by trade, and anyone quoting a single number is guessing. Groceries run thin and volume-driven; pharmacies and restaurants sit higher on gross margin but carry heavier overheads. The more useful comparison is your own business against last quarter, not against an industry average you cannot verify.",[19,259,260,263],{},[22,261,262],{},"Is GST an expense?","\nNot usually. GST you collect is not your income, and GST you pay on purchases is normally recoverable as input credit. Neither belongs in your profit calculation. GST that you genuinely cannot claim — for example on something bought for personal use — is a cost.",[19,265,266,269],{},[22,267,268],{},"Should the owner's own salary be an expense?","\nFor understanding the business, yes. If you do not pay yourself a market salary, the business looks more profitable than it is, and you will not notice that you are subsidising it with your own labour.",[19,271,272,275],{},[22,273,274],{},"Where does loan EMI go?","\nSplit it. The interest is an expense and belongs in the profit calculation; the principal repayment is not an expense, it reduces what you owe. Treating the whole EMI as a cost understates your profit.",[19,277,278,281],{},[22,279,280],{},"My gross margin looks wrong in my software. Why?","\nMost often because purchases are recorded as free text rather than against real items from your catalogue. The cost gets counted but cannot be matched to what you sold, so the margin is computed against an incomplete picture.",{"title":283,"searchDepth":284,"depth":284,"links":285},"",2,[286,287,288,289,290,291,292],{"id":46,"depth":284,"text":47},{"id":144,"depth":284,"text":145},{"id":163,"depth":284,"text":164},{"id":198,"depth":284,"text":199},{"id":220,"depth":284,"text":221},{"id":230,"depth":284,"text":231},{"id":250,"depth":284,"text":251},"2026-09-13","Why a busy shop can still feel broke. Gross profit and net profit explained with kirana, pharmacy and restaurant numbers — and the expense categories that quietly decide which one you have.","md","/images/blog/gross-vs-net-profit.jpg",{},true,"/blog/gross-profit-vs-net-profit-india",{"title":6,"description":294},"blog/gross-profit-vs-net-profit-india",[303,304,305,306],"Expenses","Profitability","Accounting","Operations","bg7Vd-Zz_eL9Ngr7O8m7xnOSNCPZJ50YRrHiEkDi1JM",[309,620],{"id":310,"title":311,"author":7,"body":312,"date":293,"description":609,"extension":295,"image":610,"meta":611,"navigation":298,"path":612,"seo":613,"stem":614,"tags":615,"__hash__":619},"blog/blog/purchase-order-vs-bill-vs-grn.md","Purchase Order, GRN or Purchase Bill? What a Small Indian Shop Actually Needs (2026)",{"type":9,"value":313,"toc":599},[314,317,347,351,436,439,443,458,471,474,478,481,502,505,509,512,518,524,528,531,539,542,546,549,556,558,561,567,569,575,581,587,593],[12,315,311],{"id":316},"purchase-order-grn-or-purchase-bill-what-a-small-indian-shop-actually-needs-2026",[16,318,319],{},[19,320,321,323,324,327,328,331,332,327,335,338,339,342,343,346],{},[22,322,24],{}," A ",[22,325,326],{},"purchase order (PO)"," is what ",[31,329,330],{},"you"," send the supplier — \"send me this\". A ",[22,333,334],{},"goods receipt (GRN)",[31,336,337],{},"actually arrived",". A ",[22,340,341],{},"purchase bill"," is the supplier's invoice — what you owe. A ",[22,344,345],{},"debit note"," is what you raise when goods go back. Most small shops need only two of these: the purchase bill and the payment against it. POs and GRNs start earning their keep when you order in advance, buy from multiple suppliers, or have someone other than the owner receiving stock. If one person orders, receives and pays, a PO is a form you fill in for yourself.",[44,348,350],{"id":349},"the-four-documents-in-the-order-they-happen","The four documents, in the order they happen",[52,352,353,369],{},[55,354,355],{},[58,356,357,360,363,366],{},[61,358,359],{},"Document",[61,361,362],{},"Who creates it",[61,364,365],{},"What it answers",[61,367,368],{},"Small shop needs it?",[70,370,371,387,403,421],{},[58,372,373,378,381,384],{},[75,374,375],{},[22,376,377],{},"Purchase order",[75,379,380],{},"You",[75,382,383],{},"\"What did we ask for, at what price?\"",[75,385,386],{},"Only if you order ahead or someone else receives",[58,388,389,394,397,400],{},[75,390,391],{},[22,392,393],{},"Goods receipt (GRN)",[75,395,396],{},"You, at delivery",[75,398,399],{},"\"What actually turned up?\"",[75,401,402],{},"Only if the person receiving isn't the person ordering",[58,404,405,410,413,416],{},[75,406,407],{},[22,408,409],{},"Purchase bill",[75,411,412],{},"The supplier",[75,414,415],{},"\"What do we owe, and what tax was charged?\"",[75,417,418],{},[22,419,420],{},"Always",[58,422,423,428,430,433],{},[75,424,425],{},[22,426,427],{},"Debit note",[75,429,380],{},[75,431,432],{},"\"What went back, and what should be credited?\"",[75,434,435],{},"Whenever you return goods",[19,437,438],{},"The purchase bill is the one that is not optional. It is the record of the liability, the source of your input tax credit, and the thing your CA will ask for. Everything else is process around it.",[44,440,442],{"id":441},"the-problem-pos-and-grns-actually-solve","The problem POs and GRNs actually solve",[19,444,445,446,449,450,453,454,457],{},"They exist to catch a gap between three numbers: what you ",[22,447,448],{},"ordered",", what ",[22,451,452],{},"arrived",", and what you were ",[22,455,456],{},"billed for",". Checking all three against each other is called a three-way match, and it is how businesses catch the ordinary, unglamorous losses:",[459,460,461,465,468],"ul",{},[462,463,464],"li",{},"You ordered 50 cartons, 46 arrived, the bill says 50.",[462,466,467],{},"The rate agreed on the phone was ₹1,180. The bill says ₹1,240.",[462,469,470],{},"A crate was damaged, everyone remembers agreeing a credit, and no credit ever came.",[19,472,473],{},"If you personally place the order, take the delivery and check the bill, you do that match in your head. It works, right up until the day you are not there. The moment a manager, a son, or a godown boy receives stock while you are elsewhere, the match has to live somewhere other than your memory.",[44,475,477],{"id":476},"a-practical-rule-for-when-to-start-using-pos","A practical rule for when to start using POs",[19,479,480],{},"Ask three questions. If you answer yes to any of them, POs and GRNs will pay for the minute they cost:",[482,483,484,490,496],"ol",{},[462,485,486,489],{},[22,487,488],{},"Does anyone other than you receive stock?"," Then you need a record of what was expected.",[462,491,492,495],{},[22,493,494],{},"Do you order more than a few days in advance?"," Then you need a record of what was agreed, because the price may have moved by delivery.",[462,497,498,501],{},[22,499,500],{},"Do you buy the same item from more than one supplier?"," Then you need to compare what each quoted, and a PO is where that decision lands.",[19,503,504],{},"A kirana store buying from two distributors who deliver the same week, with the owner behind the counter, needs none of this. A restaurant group with three outlets and a central kitchen needs all of it.",[44,506,508],{"id":507},"where-the-money-quietly-leaks","Where the money quietly leaks",[19,510,511],{},"Two things are worth checking in your own records this week:",[19,513,514,517],{},[22,515,516],{},"Free-text purchase lines."," If a bill is entered as \"vegetables — ₹4,200\" rather than as actual items from your catalogue, the cost is recorded but your stock is not. Do that for a year and your inventory figure and your bank balance tell different stories. Entering lines against real catalogue items is the single change that makes stock reports trustworthy.",[19,519,520,523],{},[22,521,522],{},"Freight and unloading."," A ₹40,000 order with ₹900 of transport did not cost ₹40,000. Spread across the items, that is over 2% — which for a kirana is a meaningful share of the margin. Costs that are not attached to the goods make every item look cheaper than it was, and every margin look better.",[44,525,527],{"id":526},"input-tax-credit-the-part-worth-being-careful-about","Input tax credit: the part worth being careful about",[19,529,530],{},"Your GST input credit on purchases depends on the supplier actually filing their returns, so the invoice appears in your GSTR-2B. Entering a bill in your own software records your side of it — it does not, by itself, secure the credit. Two habits protect you:",[459,532,533,536],{},[462,534,535],{},"Capture the supplier's GSTIN and invoice number accurately at entry, not from memory later.",[462,537,538],{},"Check your 2B against what you have entered before you pay someone you are not sure about. A supplier who does not file is a supplier whose GST you are paying twice.",[19,540,541],{},"This is bookkeeping discipline, not software magic, and any vendor who tells you otherwise is selling something.",[44,543,545],{"id":544},"returns-are-a-document-not-a-phone-call","Returns are a document, not a phone call",[19,547,548],{},"\"They said they would adjust it next time\" is how credits get lost. A debit note makes the claim a record with a number and a date, which is what you need if the adjustment does not appear. It should also put the stock back — the goods left your shelf, and a system that records the credit without the stock movement has just created a second discrepancy.",[19,550,551,552,555],{},"One thing worth knowing: a return should ",[22,553,554],{},"not"," change what your remaining stock is valued at. Sending goods back does not alter what the goods you kept cost you.",[44,557,231],{"id":230},[19,559,560],{},"The useful test for any purchase feature is whether it removes a step or adds one. Entering a bill should take less time than writing it in a notebook, or people stop doing it.",[19,562,563,566],{},[238,564,565],{"href":245},"Setuverse purchase management"," is built around that: the shortest path is a supplier bill and a payment, with purchase orders, goods receipts and approvals available for businesses that have grown into needing them. Purchase lines can be entered against real catalogue items so stock follows from the bill, freight can be spread across the lines, and supplier prices are kept as history rather than overwritten when they change. It is part of the ₹2,999/year plan rather than a paid extra, and the whole spend side is visible only to owner and admin accounts — your staff never see what you pay your suppliers.",[44,568,251],{"id":250},[19,570,571,574],{},[22,572,573],{},"Is a purchase order legally required in India?","\nNo. A PO is a commercial document, not a statutory one. What the law cares about is the tax invoice from your supplier and your records of it.",[19,576,577,580],{},[22,578,579],{},"What is the difference between a purchase bill and a tax invoice?","\nFor most purposes they are the same document seen from two sides. Your supplier issues it as a tax invoice; in your books it is a purchase bill.",[19,582,583,586],{},[22,584,585],{},"Do I need a GRN if I check the delivery myself?","\nNo. A GRN exists to record what arrived when the person checking is not the person who ordered or the person who pays. If that is all the same person, the GRN adds paperwork and no information.",[19,588,589,592],{},[22,590,591],{},"Can I enter a bill before paying it?","\nYes, and you should. Entering the bill records what you owe; the payment is recorded separately, in full or in parts. That is how you can answer \"what do I owe, and to whom\" without ringing anyone.",[19,594,595,598],{},[22,596,597],{},"How should I handle a supplier who never gives a proper bill?","\nRecord it as an expense with whatever proof you have, and understand that you cannot claim input credit on it. If it is a recurring supplier, the cost of the lost credit usually outweighs whatever the informal rate saves you — work it out before deciding they are cheaper.",{"title":283,"searchDepth":284,"depth":284,"links":600},[601,602,603,604,605,606,607,608],{"id":349,"depth":284,"text":350},{"id":441,"depth":284,"text":442},{"id":476,"depth":284,"text":477},{"id":507,"depth":284,"text":508},{"id":526,"depth":284,"text":527},{"id":544,"depth":284,"text":545},{"id":230,"depth":284,"text":231},{"id":250,"depth":284,"text":251},"PO, GRN, purchase bill and debit note explained in plain language — which of them a kirana, pharmacy or restaurant genuinely needs, and which are paperwork you can skip.","/images/blog/purchase-order-vs-bill.jpg",{},"/blog/purchase-order-vs-bill-vs-grn",{"title":311,"description":609},"blog/purchase-order-vs-bill-vs-grn",[616,617,618,306],"Purchases","Procurement","Inventory","B3cJBH2L9rAFlbcb2fRiD-Iq9aJTOK-ZMDevpU4ySvs",{"id":621,"title":622,"author":7,"body":623,"date":892,"description":893,"extension":295,"image":894,"meta":895,"navigation":298,"path":896,"seo":897,"stem":898,"tags":899,"__hash__":901},"blog/blog/fefo-medicine-expiry-management.md","FEFO Explained: How Pharmacies Stop Losing Money to Expired Medicines (2026)",{"type":9,"value":624,"toc":885},[625,628,646,650,717,724,728,731,754,758,768,774,779,805,811,813,834,836,842,848,854,869,872],[12,626,622],{"id":627},"fefo-explained-how-pharmacies-stop-losing-money-to-expired-medicines-2026",[16,629,630],{},[19,631,632,25,634,637,638,641,642,645],{},[22,633,24],{},[22,635,636],{},"FEFO (First-Expiry-First-Out)"," means the batch closest to its expiry date is always dispensed first — regardless of when you purchased it. It differs from FIFO, which sells the ",[31,639,640],{},"oldest purchase"," first; a newer purchase can carry an ",[31,643,644],{},"earlier"," expiry, and FIFO would sell the wrong batch. For a typical medical store, disciplined FEFO plus expiry alerts cuts expiry write-offs dramatically — and since selling an expired medicine can cost you your drug licence, FEFO is compliance, not just economics. The practical setup: record batch + expiry at purchase, dispense by nearest expiry at billing, and act on alerts at 90/60/30/7 days.",[44,647,649],{"id":648},"fefo-vs-fifo-the-difference-that-catches-pharmacies-out","FEFO vs FIFO — the difference that catches pharmacies out",[52,651,652,664],{},[55,653,654],{},[58,655,656,658,661],{},[61,657],{},[61,659,660],{},"FIFO",[61,662,663],{},"FEFO",[70,665,666,684,695,706],{},[58,667,668,671,678],{},[75,669,670],{},"Rule",[75,672,673,674,677],{},"Oldest ",[22,675,676],{},"purchase"," leaves first",[75,679,680,681,677],{},"Nearest ",[22,682,683],{},"expiry",[58,685,686,689,692],{},[75,687,688],{},"Works when",[75,690,691],{},"Expiry roughly follows purchase order",[75,693,694],{},"Always — even when a new purchase has an older expiry",[58,696,697,700,703],{},[75,698,699],{},"Fails when",[75,701,702],{},"A later purchase carries an earlier expiry (very common with schemes/clearance stock from distributors)",[75,704,705],{},"—",[58,707,708,711,714],{},[75,709,710],{},"Best for",[75,712,713],{},"Costing/accounts",[75,715,716],{},"Physical dispensing of dated goods",[19,718,719,720,723],{},"The trap: distributors often push near-expiry stock at attractive rates. Under FIFO thinking, that \"new\" purchase sits at the back of the queue — and expires on your shelf. FEFO puts it at the ",[31,721,722],{},"front",", where it can still be sold safely.",[44,725,727],{"id":726},"what-expiry-losses-actually-cost","What expiry losses actually cost",[19,729,730],{},"Work the numbers for a mid-sized medical store doing ₹4–6 lakh/month:",[459,732,733,744,747],{},[462,734,735,736,739,740,743],{},"Even ",[22,737,738],{},"1% expiry loss"," ≈ ₹4,000–6,000/month = ",[22,741,742],{},"₹50,000–70,000/year"," — several times the cost of the systems that prevent it.",[462,745,746],{},"Near-expiry returns to distributors are only accepted within limited windows (commonly 3–6 months before expiry, varying by company). Miss the window and the loss is fully yours.",[462,748,749,750,753],{},"And the non-financial cost: dispensing an expired medicine risks ",[22,751,752],{},"licence action"," by the Drugs Control Department, not just an unhappy customer.",[44,755,757],{"id":756},"running-fefo-in-practice-the-4-habits","Running FEFO in practice — the 4 habits",[19,759,760,763,764,767],{},[22,761,762],{},"1. Capture batch + expiry at purchase entry."," If expiry isn't recorded when stock arrives, no system downstream can save you. Every strip/bottle entering the store should exist in your records as ",[31,765,766],{},"item → batch → expiry → quantity",".",[19,769,770,773],{},[22,771,772],{},"2. Dispense by nearest expiry at the counter."," This is where manual FEFO breaks — a busy counter picks whichever strip is in front. Software that auto-suggests (or auto-selects) the nearest-expiry batch at billing makes FEFO the default rather than a discipline.",[19,775,776],{},[22,777,778],{},"3. Act on a 90/60/30/7-day alert ladder.",[459,780,781,787,793,799],{},[462,782,783,786],{},[22,784,785],{},"90 days:"," stop reordering; check distributor return window.",[462,788,789,792],{},[22,790,791],{},"60 days:"," return eligible stock; move the rest to front-of-counter visibility.",[462,794,795,798],{},[22,796,797],{},"30 days:"," discount/substitute actively where appropriate.",[462,800,801,804],{},[22,802,803],{},"7 days:"," final check; quarantine anything unsold at expiry — never leave it on the sales shelf.",[19,806,807,810],{},[22,808,809],{},"4. Quarantine expired stock immediately."," Physically separate, mark, and dispose per rules. An expired strip mixed into a live drawer is how licence trouble happens.",[44,812,231],{"id":230},[19,814,815,816,820,821,824,825,828,829,833],{},"This is one of the clearest cases for ",[238,817,819],{"href":818},"/pharmacy-billing-software","pharmacy billing software",": Setuverse records batch and expiry at purchase, ",[22,822,823],{},"dispenses FEFO automatically at billing",", raises expiry alerts at 7/30/60/90 days, and ",[22,826,827],{},"blocks the sale of expired stock"," outright — at ₹2,999/year + GST, roughly one month's expiry loss for most stores. Grocery and ",[238,830,832],{"href":831},"/kirana-store-billing-software","kirana stores"," carrying dated FMCG benefit from the same logic.",[44,835,251],{"id":250},[19,837,838,841],{},[22,839,840],{},"Is FEFO legally mandatory for pharmacies?","\nThe law prohibits selling expired medicines; FEFO is the operating practice that makes that prohibition workable day-to-day. Inspectors expect to see batch/expiry control in any case.",[19,843,844,847],{},[22,845,846],{},"Can I run FEFO with paper registers?","\nFor a very small counter, barely — it collapses with volume because every sale requires checking expiry across batches. Software makes it automatic.",[19,849,850,853],{},[22,851,852],{},"What do I do with expired stock?","\nQuarantine it away from saleable stock, record it, and return/dispose according to your distributor agreements and local rules. Keep the paper trail.",[19,855,856,859,860,863,864,868],{},[22,857,858],{},"Does FEFO change my accounting?","\nNo — FEFO governs ",[31,861,862],{},"physical"," flow. Your books can run FIFO or weighted average (see our ",[238,865,867],{"href":866},"/blog/fifo-vs-lifo-inventory-methods-retail","FIFO vs LIFO guide",").",[870,871],"hr",{},[19,873,874],{},[31,875,876,877,880,881,767],{},"Last updated: July 2026. See ",[238,878,879],{"href":818},"Setuverse Pharmacy Billing Software"," — FEFO dispensing, expiry alerts, expired-sale blocking — or ",[238,882,884],{"href":883},"/pricing","view pricing",{"title":283,"searchDepth":284,"depth":284,"links":886},[887,888,889,890,891],{"id":648,"depth":284,"text":649},{"id":726,"depth":284,"text":727},{"id":756,"depth":284,"text":757},{"id":230,"depth":284,"text":231},{"id":250,"depth":284,"text":251},"2026-07-19","First-Expiry-First-Out (FEFO) in plain language — how it differs from FIFO, how much expiry losses really cost a medical store, and how to run FEFO without spreadsheets.","/images/blog/fefo-expiry.jpg",{},"/blog/fefo-medicine-expiry-management",{"title":622,"description":893},"blog/fefo-medicine-expiry-management",[900,618,663,306],"Pharmacy","V_kDnNSP1xOC84vl0dvGqU_mlOwDzkDd88Tdz63guGo",1789371478050]