If you run a hardware or paint shop, your billing is messier than a typical kirana counter: paint sold by the litre and the tin, screws by the box and the piece, pipe by the foot, plus contractors who want a wholesale rate and a running khata. The right billing software for a hardware and paint shop handles mixed units, more than one price per item, correct GST, and printing — while working offline at a busy counter. This guide walks through what to look for, the GST rates that changed in 2025, and a worked bill.
What a hardware and paint shop actually needs to bill
Skip the feature lists that read the same for every shop. These are the four things a paint-and-hardware counter needs that a generic biller often gets wrong:
| Need | Why it matters here |
|---|---|
| Mixed units + conversion | You buy a carton of 12 and sell singles; paint comes in 20 L, 10 L, 4 L and 1 L tins. The software must convert a purchase unit into a selling unit, not force one unit per item. |
| Wholesale + retail pricing | A contractor buying 50 litres shouldn’t pay the same rate as a walk-in buying one. You need a trade price and a counter price on the same item. |
| Correct GST by HSN | Paint, hand tools and fittings sit at different HSN codes; several rates changed in 2025 (see below). Routing CGST/SGST vs IGST has to be automatic. |
| Credit / udhaar tracking | Contractors and painters buy on account. You need a party ledger, a credit-limit nudge and a statement you can share. |
Get these four right and the rest — fast entry, thermal or A4 printing, stock — follows.
The GST rates that changed for your shop in 2025
This is worth knowing because it directly affected paint and hardware pricing. Under the GST 2.0 rate reform effective 22 September 2025, India moved to a simpler structure and cut several construction-related items from 28% to 18%:
| Item (common HSN) | GST rate now | Was |
|---|---|---|
| Paints & varnishes (3208 / 3209 / 3210) | 18% | 28% |
| Hand tools — spanners, pliers, saws (Chapter 82) | 18% | 18% / 28% |
| Locks, hinges, fittings, brackets (Chapter 83) | 18% | 18% / 28% |
| Cement (2523) | 18% | 28% |
The headline for a paint shop: many paints dropped from 28% to 18%, which changed shelf prices. Because rates move and depend on the exact product, treat this table as a guide, not gospel — confirm the current rate for each item on cbic.gov.in or with your CA before you set it in your catalogue. Good billing software stores the rate against each item’s HSN, so once it’s set right the bill computes itself.
Mixed units: the feature hardware shops miss until it hurts
A tin of paint, a bag of nails, a metre of wire, a box of screws — a hardware shop rarely sells in one unit. If your software forces a single unit per item, you end up with two entries for the same product or manual maths at the counter.
Yojika stores a secondary unit with a conversion factor (Box ↔ Piece, plus Kg, Litre, Bundle and a curated India-relevant list), so you can buy a carton of 12 and sell singles, and the stock count stays honest either way. Quantities are tracked to three decimals, so 1.5 litres or 0.750 kg bill cleanly.
Wholesale rates without a second price list
Paint contractors and plumbers buy in volume and expect a trade rate. Instead of keeping a mental discount or a paper rate list, use wholesale price tiers: store a retail price and one or more wholesale prices per item, and the trade rate is applied on the contractor’s bill automatically. Per-line discounts handle the one-off “give me something on this” moment at the counter — Yojika supports a discount per line item (there is no whole-bill discount), which keeps every line’s tax correct.
A worked example: a hardware & paint bill in Rajkot
Anil runs Shakti Hardware & Paints in Rajkot, Gujarat. A customer — also in Gujarat — buys:
- 1 tin of exterior emulsion, 20 L — ₹3,000
- 1 hand-tools set — ₹1,000
- 10 door hinges at ₹50 each — ₹500
All three sit at 18% GST (confirm each on cbic.gov.in). Because the buyer is in the same state, it’s an intra-state sale, so the 18% splits into CGST 9% + SGST 9%:
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SHAKTI HARDWARE & PAINTS GSTIN: 24ABCDE1234F1Z5
Trikon Baug, Rajkot, Gujarat - 360001
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Tax Invoice No: INV2026-27/0184 Date: 24/08/2026
Bill to: Walk-in customer Place of supply: Gujarat (24)
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Item HSN Qty Rate Taxable GST
Exterior emulsion 3209 1 tin 3,000 3,000.00 18%
Hand-tools set 8206 1 set 1,000 1,000.00 18%
Door hinges 8302 10 pc 50 500.00 18%
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Taxable value: 4,500.00
CGST 9%: 405.00
SGST 9%: 405.00
Round off: 0.00
TOTAL: ₹ 5,310.00
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Re-add the columns: taxable ₹4,500, CGST ₹405, SGST ₹405, total ₹5,310 — it ties out. If the same order went to a customer in Rajasthan, it would be inter-state: a single IGST 18% = ₹810, and the total is still ₹5,310, shown as one IGST line instead of two. Yojika works out that split from the place of supply on every bill — see our plain-English guide to the CGST, SGST and IGST difference if that routing is new to you.
Speed, printing and the offline counter
Paint counters get busy on a Saturday. A few things keep the queue moving:
- Keyboard-first entry with barcodes and label printing — scan or type, and the line fills in with rate, HSN and tax. You can print barcode labels for shelf items.
- Any print format — a full A4 tax invoice for a contractor’s records, or a 58/65/80 mm thermal receipt for a quick walk-in sale.
- Offline-first — billing, stock and printing all run from a local database on your shop PC. No internet needed at the counter, and your business data stays on your own machine rather than in someone’s cloud.
- 22 official Indian languages — print the bill in the language your customer reads.
One honest note on scope: Yojika does not file your GST returns, and it doesn’t do e-invoicing or e-way bills. It gets every bill right and exports the figures (GSTR-1, GSTR-3B, HSN summary) so filing on gst.gov.in — by you or your CA — is quick.
How to choose billing software for a hardware and paint shop
Match the tool to how a hardware and paint shop really works: mixed units with conversion, wholesale and retail prices, correct GST by HSN, credit tracking for contractors, and fast offline billing that prints the way you print. If a package can’t do those, the demo won’t matter by the second Saturday.
For a wider comparison of what to weigh up, see our honest guide to the best GST billing software for small business in India, and if you run a higher-throughput counter, the supermarket billing software guide covers fast-lane billing too.
Yojika is offline-first GST billing software built for exactly these shops:
- See the full list on the features page.
- Check simple, transparent pricing on the pricing page.
- Or download Yojika and try it free for 14 days.
This article is general information, not tax advice. GST rates and rules change — confirm the current position on gst.gov.in or cbic.gov.in, or with your CA.