Rice mill software that follows paddy from gate to lorry
Weighbridge entries, moisture deductions, milling yield, by-products, broker commission and GST dispatch in one ledger that matches your godown.
Rice mill software records paddy bought from farmers and agents, the deductions agreed at the gate, what each milling run yields and where the rice and by-products go. We build it for mills that buy through brokers, hold stock by variety and want the yield of every lot visible.
Where the day goes wrong
- 01
Gate deductions argued later
Moisture readings and weight cuts are agreed verbally at the weighbridge, then disputed when the farmer or agent returns for payment.
- 02
Yield known only by feel
Without lot-wise paddy in and rice out, a poor variety or a tiring machine hides inside the monthly average.
- 03
By-products sold off the books
Bran, husk and broken rice are real income, yet they are often weighed out at the gate without a record against the milling run.
- 04
Broker commission from memory
Every broker has a different arrangement, and commissions are settled from notebooks that nobody can audit.
- 05
Godown stock that drifts
Stock by variety and bag size never matches the physical count, and dispatch invoices follow what the godown keeper says.
What we build for you
- 01
Weighbridge-linked purchase
Gross, tare and net weight, moisture reading and the deduction rule applied automatically, with a printed purchase slip.
- 02
Farmer and broker ledger
Party accounts with advances, payments and per-broker commission terms, settled against specific purchase lots.
- 03
Milling runs and yield
Paddy issued, rice, brokens, bran and husk received, with yield worked out per run, variety and lot.
- 04
Godown stock by variety
Bag-wise and weight-wise stock by variety, grade and godown, with a physical-count reconciliation screen.
- 05
GST dispatch and e-way details
Sales invoices at the rate you set for each item, with vehicle and e-way bill numbers recorded against the load.
- 06
Payables and receivables
Ageing of what you owe farmers and agents and what traders owe you, with reminder lists for the accounts team.
- 07
Owner dashboard
Today's purchase, milling, stock and cash on one phone screen.
Paddy in, rice out: the ledger a mill really needs
A rice mill makes its money in two places that are easy to lose track of: the price at which paddy is bought and the yield at which it is milled. A few rupees per quintal at the weighbridge, or a set of worn rubber rolls late in the season, matters more than any sales discount. Yet in many mills these numbers live in three places: a weighbridge ticket, a purchase notebook and the accountant's entries made a week later.
Starting at the weighbridge
Consider a mill in the Cauvery delta that buys ponni and ADT 37 paddy from farmers directly and through three agents. A lorry arrives. The weighbridge gives gross and tare, someone checks moisture, a deduction is agreed and the farmer is told the net quantity. Every one of those steps is a point of dispute when payment day comes.
The system we build makes the weighbridge slip the first record. Weights are captured directly if your indicator has a serial or USB output, or typed from the ticket if it does not, and the moisture reading is entered against the lot. The deduction follows a rule you define, such as a cut per quintal for each point of moisture above your agreed limit, so two clerks apply the same rule to the same lorry.
Four leaks worth plugging
- Yield by lot. Paddy issued to the mill and the rice, brokens, bran and husk that came out should be compared per run. A variety or supplier whose paddy keeps yielding less shows up within weeks, and a machine whose broken rice is climbing is visible long before the season ends.
- By-products. Bran, husk and broken rice are real income, often sold for cash and often weighed out without a record against the milling run. We post each as an output of the run, so stock and cash both reconcile.
- Brokers. Each agent has their own basis: per quintal, per lorry or on value. The rule sits on the broker's profile and the commission is computed against the lots that broker brought.
- Godown differences. Stock is held by variety, grade and bag size, and a count screen compares the physical figure with the book for each godown.
Dispatch and the paperwork around it
Sales invoices are GST-ready at the rate you configure for each item. GST treatment of rice depends on several things, including whether it is pre-packed and labelled, so we set rates item by item for your chartered accountant to confirm, and they can be changed without a developer when the rules change. Each dispatch records the vehicle number and the e-way bill number that you generate on the government portal. Generating the e-way bill from inside the system would be a separate integration, which we would scope and price on its own.
Pricing a mill system
A core mill ledger covering purchase, party accounts, stock and dispatch typically starts around ₹85,000 as custom ERP software. A complete system with milling runs, broker settlement, ageing, dashboards and an Android app for the weighbridge clerk usually falls between ₹1,50,000 and ₹5,00,000, depending on the number of units and godowns. You receive the full source code and every account on final payment, so changes later do not depend on us.
What we would not replace, and where to start
If your mill already runs a mature ERP, leave it alone. If your accountant is content with Tally for the books, we keep Tally for the books and build the operational layer around it; custom ERP versus Tally sets out the trade-off. If part of your business is custom milling for traders, say so in discovery, because stock ownership then works differently.
We begin with the purchase screen and the party ledger, because that is where the largest disputes start. For neighbouring trades, see our pages on wholesale distributors and cold storage units. VS Tech Builders prices the first stage as a fixed scope before any work starts.
Frequently asked questions
Can the weighbridge feed weights straight into the software?
If your weighbridge indicator has a serial or USB output, yes. The weight is captured directly and cannot be retyped. Many older indicators only print a ticket. In that case the clerk types the weights from the ticket and the system flags any entry where gross less tare does not equal net. We check the indicator model during discovery, before we quote.
Our moisture deduction rules change with variety and season. Is that a problem?
No. Deduction rules are settings, not code. You can define a limit and a rate for each variety, change them for a new season, and keep the earlier rule attached to earlier purchases so that past lots never change. The clerk only enters the moisture reading; the system applies whichever rule was in force on that day.
How is yield worked out when paddy from several farmers is milled together?
A milling run can draw on several purchase lots. Yield is calculated for the run as a whole and shared back to lots in proportion to the paddy issued, and we label that figure as an estimate. If you mill lot by lot, the yield is exact for each lot. Which way you work depends on your plant, and we set it up to match.
Do we still need Tally if we use this?
Most mills keep it. Tally remains a good choice for books and statutory accounts, and our system covers the gate-to-godown operations that Tally does not model well. We can export purchase, sales and party balances in a form your accountant can import. Replacing a working accounts setup is rarely worth the disruption, so we do not suggest it.
Further reading
Software built for rice mills.
Describe your business and the problem in a few lines. We reply within one business day with an honest recommendation, a scope and a fixed price.