Chapter 04: Customer Management & Khata (ग्राहक बहीखाता)

In vegetable wholesale and mandi trading, managing customer credit (उधार / बाकी) and collecting daily payments (वसूली) is critical to keeping your cash flow healthy.

BahiKhata Green gives you a complete, transparent customer ledger that eliminates disputes with your buyers.

👥 1. Overview of the Customers Screen#

Click on "Customers (ग्राहक)" in the menu to see your customer list:

What you see on this page:#

1. Total Market Outstanding (कुल बाजार बाकी): A large bold badge showing the total udhar money you have in the market across all customers.
2. Search Bar: Quickly find any customer by typing their Name or Mobile Number.
3. Customer Cards: Each card shows:
   • Customer Name & Business/Hotel Name.
   • Mobile Number with one-tap call and WhatsApp buttons.
   • 🔴 Red Balance Badge: Customer owes you money (Udhar / बाकी).
   • 🟢 Green Balance Badge: Customer has zero balance or advance balance (जमा).
   • ⚡ New Sale Button: Tap to jump straight to billing for this specific customer.

➕ 2. Adding a New Customer#

1. Click the "+ Add Customer (नया ग्राहक)" button.
2. Fill in the basic details:
   • Customer Name: (e.g. Ramesh Hotel / Rajesh Retailer).
   • Phone Number: 10-digit mobile number for WhatsApp bills.
   • Address / Mandi Stall: (e.g. Near Clock Tower, Shop #5).
   • Opening Balance (पुरानी बाकी): If this customer already owes you money from your old paper notebook, enter that amount here.
3. Click "Save Customer".

📖 3. Inside the Customer Khata (Ledger Details)#

Click on any customer's name to open their Detailed Khata Ledger:

Top Summary Cards:#

• Total Purchased (कुल खरीद): Lifetime total of all vegetables bought by this customer.
• Total Paid (कुल जमा): Total payments received from this customer.
• Net Balance Due (कुल बाकी): Exact amount the customer currently owes you.

💵 4. How to Record Customer Payments (वसूली दर्ज करें)#

When a customer comes to your shop to pay cash or sends a UPI payment, you have 3 easy ways to record it:

Option A: Custom Payment (सामान्य वसूली / जमा)#

1. Click the "Record Payment (भुगतान लें)" button on the top right.
2. Enter the Amount Paid (e.g. ₹5,000).
3. Select the Payment Method (Cash, UPI / QR, Bank Transfer).
4. Enter optional note (e.g. GPay payment from Suresh).
5. Click "Save Payment & WhatsApp Receipt".
6. The customer's balance will immediately decrease, and a WhatsApp confirmation receipt is sent to them!

Option B: Settle a Specific Bill (पर्ची अनुसार भुगतान)#

If a customer says: "I am paying for yesterday's tomato bill of ₹1,800 specifically":

1. Find that specific sale entry in their timeline.
2. Click the "Settle Bill (पर्ची भुगतान)" button next to that invoice.
3. Enter the amount paid and click Save.
4. That specific bill will be marked as 🟢 PAID, and the balance is deducted from their ledger.

Option C: Quick Full Settlement (पूरा हिसाब चुकता)#

If a customer wants to clear their entire outstanding balance at once:

1. Click the "Settle Full Balance (पूरा हिसाब चुकता)" button.
2. The app automatically fills the exact outstanding amount.
3. Choose payment mode (Cash/UPI) and click Confirm.
4. The customer's balance becomes ₹0.00!

📲 5. Sample WhatsApp Payment Receipt#

When you record a payment, the customer automatically receives a clear confirmation:

💵 *PAYMENT RECEIVED RECEIPT / भुगतान रसीद*
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🏪 *Shree Ganesh Vegetable Traders*
📍 Shop No. 14, APMC Fruit & Veg Mandi
📞 98765-43210
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
👤 *Customer:* Ramesh Hotel (98111-22233)
📅 *Date & Time:* 31 Aug 2026, 11:30 AM
🔢 *Receipt #:* REC-20260831-0089
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
💰 *Amount Received:* ₹5,000.00
💳 *Payment Mode:* UPI / GPay
📝 *Note:* GPay transaction
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📊 *UPDATED ACCOUNT STATUS:*
Previous Balance: ₹8,450.00
Amount Paid: -₹5,000.00
*Remaining Outstanding Udhar: ₹3,450.00*
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
_Thank you for your payment!_

📄 6. Downloading & Sharing PDF Account Statements (खाता विवरण PDF)#

Whenever a customer asks for their full weekly or monthly account statement:

1. Click the "Statement (खाता विवरण)" button at the top of the customer's profile.
2. Choose the date period:
   • This Month / इस महीने
   • Last 30 Days / पिछले 30 दिन
   • Custom Date Range / अपनी तारीख चुनें
3. Click "Download PDF" to save a professional branded PDF file on your phone or computer.
4. Click "Share on WhatsApp" to send a quick text summary or PDF link directly to the customer.

🔍 7. Filtering the Customer Ledger#

At the top of the customer timeline, you can use one-click filters:

• All (सभी): Shows all sales, payments, and settlements in date order.
• Sales (बिक्री पर्ची): Shows only vegetable bills.
• Payments (जमा): Shows only cash/UPI receipts.
• Unsettled Dues (बाकी पर्चियां): Shows only unpaid or partially paid bills.
• Date Filter: Choose a start date and end date to see only transactions for a specific week or festival period.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)#

Q1: Can a customer have an advance (Jama / जमा) balance?

Yes! If a customer owes ₹2,000 and gives you ₹5,000 cash in advance, their balance will show -₹3,000 (🟢 Green Advance). When you create new sales for them, the bill amount is automatically deducted from their advance balance.

Q2: What if a customer disputes a bill from last week?

Open the customer's khata, find that exact bill in the timeline, and tap "👁️ View Details". You will see the exact timestamp, vegetables sold, weights, rates, and cashier name. You can also print a duplicate thermal receipt to show them.

Q3: Can I send a payment reminder to a customer whose payment is overdue?

Yes! Next to the customer's balance badge, tap the Share / WhatsApp icon. The app generates a polite reminder message with their current total balance and bank UPI QR details ready to send.

➡️ Next Step:#

Now let's learn how to track your accounts with farmers and vegetable suppliers! Go to Chapter 05: Supplier Management & Ledger.