How the khata balance is worked out
Balance = Total udhaar given − Total payments receivedWork it out customer by customer. A positive balance means the customer owes you; a negative balance means they paid in advance and you owe them goods or money. Your total outstanding is the sum of all the positive balances — the money that is out in the market.
Example from the sample khata above: Ramesh Kumar took ₹1,200 of ration on 2 October and ₹850 more on 12 October, then paid ₹1,000 by UPI on 20 October. His balance is 1,200 + 850 − 1,000 = ₹1,050. Sunita Devi took ₹2,450 and paid ₹500, so she owes ₹1,950. Total outstanding: ₹3,000 — and Sunita owes the most.
The “Balance after” column shows the customer's balance right after each entry, in date order, so you can see exactly when the amount went up or down — handy when a customer asks how it became so much.
Keeping a khata your customers trust
- Write every entry the same day, with the date, the items and the amount. A short note like “atta 10 kg, dal 2 kg” settles most arguments.
- Use one spelling per customer. “Ramesh” and “Ramesh Kumar” count as two people; capitals and extra spaces don't matter.
- Record payments as soon as they come in, with the mode — cash, UPI or cheque.
- Look at the balances once a week. Small, recent dues are far easier to collect than big ones months later.
Sending a polite reminder
Press Copy reminder next to a customer to copy a short, polite message with the exact amount due, in English or Hinglish. Paste it into WhatsApp or SMS and send it yourself — nothing is ever sent from this page. Adding your UPI ID to the message makes paying back a one-tap job.
Common mistakes
- Recording a payment as udhaar, or the other way round. Pick “Udhaar diya” for credit given and “Paisa mila” for money received.
- Writing the same customer under two names, which splits their balance in two.
- Deleting entries when a customer pays. Add a “Paisa mila” entry instead, so the history stays complete.
- Keeping the only copy on one phone. Entries live in this browser only, so clearing browser data or switching phones starts a fresh khata — download the CSV now and then as a backup.