Why so many jewellers still use Excel or a register
A register costs nothing, and an Excel sheet costs very little. You already know how to use them, there is no login, and nobody is selling you a plan. For a shop where the owner sits at the counter, knows every piece by heart and writes every bill, that is a real advantage.
Excel is also flexible: add a column when you need one, sort by weight, total a day’s sales and send the file to your CA. For many shops it works for years.
The problems start slowly: a second salesperson, a rate changed twice in a day, old gold paid partly by UPI, a CA asking for the HSN summary. Each is a small job in a sheet; together they eat up every evening, and mistakes creep in.
When Excel is enough
- Small stock. A few hundred pieces that you can count by hand in an afternoon.
- One counter, one person billing. The person who knows the sheet makes every bill.
- Few exchanges. Old gold comes in rarely, so you can work it out on paper when it does.
- Simple pricing. Making is charged the same way on most pieces, and you set one rate in the morning.
- A CA who is happy with your sheet. They take your sales total and bill book each month without complaint.
Where Excel breaks for a jewellery shop
A sheet only knows what you type into it. Jewellery pricing depends on four things that change: the day’s rate, the exact weight, the purity and the making. Here is where a sheet usually lets a shop down.
Gold and silver rates
In a sheet, the rate sits in one cell, and every price that uses it changes the moment you change that cell. That sounds useful until a customer comes back for a piece you quoted in the morning and the sheet now shows a different price.
Good jewellery software keeps the rate a bill was quoted at, and uses the new rate only for new bills. It keeps 24K, 22K, 18K and silver rates side by side.
Old gold exchange
Old gold needs its own maths: weigh it, test its purity, work out the fine weight, value it at your old-gold rate and take it off the bill. In Excel this is usually a separate slip or a side calculation, and the old gold rarely makes it into your stock sheet.
In good jewellery software, the old gold sits on the same bill as the new piece, and it joins your old-gold stock as soon as the bill is saved. Try the maths yourself on the old gold exchange calculator.
HUID on every piece and every bill
Under BIS hallmarking, a hallmarked gold piece carries three marks: the BIS logo, the purity in carat and fineness, and a 6-character HUID. Customers can check a HUID themselves in the BIS Care app. That means the HUID on your bill should match the piece exactly.
In a sheet, the HUID is one more column that someone has to copy by hand onto the bill. One wrong character and the bill no longer matches the piece. Good software carries the HUID from your stock to the bill line, and lets you search a piece by its HUID. What is HUID explains the code itself. The stock with HUID guide explains how pieces get their HUID and tags.
GST and your CA
Jewellery carries 3% GST: 1.5% CGST and 1.5% SGST for a customer in your state, or 3% IGST for a customer from another state, with the HSN code on the bill. A sheet can do this sum, but only if every bill is typed in correctly, and someone still has to pull together the month’s figures for GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B.
When every bill is made in software, the GST figures come from the same bills, so there is nothing to match. The GST billing guide covers the rules your bills must follow.
Staff, dues and the evening count
Anyone who opens the file can change a price, delete a row or see your cost price. Dues often live in a separate notebook, and the day’s cash, UPI and card totals are matched by hand each evening.
A worked example: one bill, by hand and by software
The rates below are made up to keep the maths simple. Use your own rates for the day.
A customer buys a 22K chain weighing 10.000 g. Say your 22K rate is ₹9,000 a gram and you charge 12% making. Gold value: 10 × 9,000 = ₹90,000. Making: 12% of 90,000 = ₹10,800. Value before tax: ₹1,00,800. GST at 3%: ₹3,024 (₹1,512 CGST and ₹1,512 SGST). Bill total: ₹1,03,824.
She also hands over an old 22K ring of 5.000 g that tests at 91.6%. Fine weight: 5 × 0.916 = 4.580 g. Say your old-gold rate for fine gold is ₹9,500 a gram: 4.580 × 9,500 = ₹43,510. She pays ₹1,03,824 − ₹43,510 = ₹60,314, part in cash and part on UPI. How GST is shown when old gold comes in on the same bill is a question to settle with your CA.
In a sheet, that is seven or eight sums, two rates, a purity and a payment split, all typed by hand while the customer waits. In jewellery software, you scan the tag, add the old gold and the payments, and the same figures come out with each line shown. You can check any piece’s price on the free gold price calculator.
| Job | Excel or register | Jewellery software |
|---|---|---|
| Day’s rate | One cell; changes every price at once | Set each morning; quoted bills keep their rate |
| Old gold | Separate slip or side sum | On the same bill; joins old-gold stock |
| HUID | Copied by hand onto the bill | Carried from stock to the bill line |
| GST figures | Totalled by hand each month | Come from the bills themselves |
| Stock count | Tick rows against trays | Scan tags against the stock list |
| Staff access | Whoever opens the file sees everything | Each person sees what you allow |
| Cost | Little or nothing | A monthly or yearly plan |
Free jewellery stock sheet: the columns to use
If you are staying on Excel for now, set up your stock sheet with these columns. One row per piece. The same columns also make the move to software much easier later, because the sheet can be brought in as it is.
Tag number. Unique to each piece, never reused.
Item name and category. For example, chain, ring, bangle, earring.
Metal. Gold, silver, or another metal you stock.
Purity. Karat and fineness, for example 22K and 916.
Gross weight (g). The full weight, to three decimals.
Stone weight (g). Weight of stones, beads or other parts that aren’t metal.
Net weight (g). Gross weight minus stone weight. Gold is charged on this.
Making type and value. Percentage, per gram or flat, and the figure.
Stone details and value. What the stones are and what you charge for them.
HUID. The 6-character code, copied with care.
Supplier or karigar. Who made or supplied it.
Purchase date and cost. Keep this column hidden from counter staff.
Location. Counter, tray or locker.
Status. In stock, sold, with karigar, or out on approval.
Bill number and sale date. Filled in when the piece is sold.
Keep a second sheet for old gold received (date, bill number, weight, tested purity, fine weight) and a third for customer dues. Save a dated copy every evening.
Moving from Excel to jewellery software
- Clean the sheet first. One row per piece, no merged cells, no totals in the middle, and weights as numbers, not text.
- Count the trays. Tick every piece in the sheet against the trays before you move. This is the best day to find missing or extra pieces.
- Bring the sheet in, don’t retype it. Good software imports your Excel sheet and shows rows that need a second look before anything is added.
- Bring customers and dues too. Names, phone numbers and what each customer owes.
- Run both for a short while. Keep the old sheet for reference until the first month’s figures match.
- Show your CA. Let them see a sample bill and the GST figures before the month closes.
- Keep your data yours. Check that you can export bills, stock and customers back to Excel at any time.
How CaratOS handles the move from Excel
CaratOS is jewellery billing and shop management software for Indian jewellers, made by Izara Gems Pvt. Ltd., Delhi. It runs in the browser at app.caratos.co.in, in English or Hindi.
Your sheet comes in. Import your opening stock from an Excel sheet when you set up. Every row is checked for weights, purity and tag numbers, and rows that need a second look are shown before anything is added. Help moving from Excel or your old software is on every plan: send us your sheets and we bring your stock, customers and dues across, and you check every row.
Stock and tags. Each piece keeps its weight, purity, making, stones, HUID and where it sits. Print price tags with the tag number, purity, weight and HUID, and search by tag, name or HUID.
Billing. Scan the tag and the piece is priced at your rate for the day, with making and stones line by line. Open bills keep the rate they were quoted at. Old gold goes on the same bill, GST is worked out as CGST and SGST or IGST, and the HUID prints on each line. See Billing and old gold.
Your CA and your data. Reports give the figures for GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B with the HSN summary. Export to Excel and Tally on Starter; Growth adds Tally live sync. Export bills, stock and customers to Excel at any time. More on your data.
Price. Starter is ₹1,199 a month and Growth ₹3,999 a month, GST included. You can request a 15-day Starter trial with no card; it begins when CaratOS approves your request. See pricing.
What CaratOS doesn’t do today
CaratOS doesn’t do girvi (gold loans), RFID or manufacturing BOMs, and there is no Android app. It runs online, so the counter needs an internet connection; CaratOS Desktop is coming soon. If your shop works fine on a sheet today, there is no rush: keep the stock sheet above, and talk to us when it starts costing you time.
Questions shop owners ask
Can I run a jewellery shop on Excel?
Yes, many small shops do. Excel works when you have a few hundred pieces, one person billing and few old gold exchanges. It gets hard when rates change during the day, old gold comes in often, the HUID must match every bill and your CA needs monthly GST figures.
What columns should a jewellery stock Excel sheet have?
One row per piece with tag number, item name, metal, purity, gross weight, stone weight, net weight, making type and value, stone details, HUID, supplier or karigar, purchase date and cost, location, status, and bill number and date when sold.
Can I make GST jewellery bills in Excel?
You can make the sums in Excel: 3% GST, as 1.5% CGST and 1.5% SGST in your state or 3% IGST for another state, with the HSN code. The hard part is keeping every bill numbered, matched to stock and totalled for GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B each month. Ask your CA what they need.
Can I bring my Excel stock sheet into CaratOS?
Yes. Import your opening stock from an Excel sheet when you set up. Rows that need a second look are shown before anything is added. You can also send us your sheets and we bring your stock, customers and dues across.
Can I take my data back to Excel later?
Yes. CaratOS lets you export bills, stock and customers to Excel at any time, even after the trial.
How much does jewellery software cost compared with Excel?
Excel costs little or nothing. CaratOS Starter is ₹1,199 a month and Growth ₹3,999 a month, GST included, with a 15-day Starter trial on request. Read the price guide for what jewellery software usually costs in India.