Billing Software with Batch & Expiry Tracking

Last updated: 23 October 2026

What is batch expiry tracking software?

Batch expiry tracking software keeps the batch number and expiry date of every item you buy, and follows each batch through your stock, your bills and your returns. It tells you which batches will expire soon, warns you before you sell one, and keeps a record of what you have sent back to the supplier.

In ValueSoft, the batch, MRP and expiry date are captured on the purchase and shown while billing. The same data feeds your stock reports, expiry reports and breakage ledger, instead of a separate expiry register kept by hand.

What problem does it solve?

If you run a medicine or FMCG business, these may sound familiar:

• "We find out a batch has expired only when the retailer sends it back. By then it is too late to claim it from the company."
• "My billing staff can't see the expiry while making the bill, so a short-dated batch goes out and comes back as a complaint."
• "Our breakage and expiry claims are on paper. I never know which ones the company has settled and which are still pending."

All three come from the same gap: the expiry date sits on the carton and the purchase bill, but not in the system your staff use every day. Batch tracking closes that gap.

How does batch and expiry tracking work in ValueSoft?

This is how a typical distributor or chemist uses it, from the day stock arrives to the day an expired batch leaves the books. Our support team helps you set it up and trains your staff.

1. 1

   Record batch, MRP and expiry on every purchase

   Each purchase line carries its batch number, MRP and expiry date, and the manufacturing date if you track it. From then on, stock is held batch by batch, not as one total per item.

2. 2

   See stock batch-wise, company-wise or division-wise

   Stock reports can show batch, MRP and expiry for one company (principal) or one division. You can value stock at purchase price, sale price or MRP, and the inventory reports include a batch summary and batch-wise ageing.

3. 3

   Bill the earliest-expiry batch first

   When you bill an item, ValueSoft offers the batch with the earliest expiry first, with its batch and expiry shown on screen. If you sell a near-expiry item, ValueSoft warns you, so your staff can check before the goods go out. The same alert also flags low-margin sales.

4. 4

   Check the near-expiry report regularly

   List the items expiring in the next 30, 60 or 90+ days, for all items or company-wise. A separate report shows products that have already expired. Use them to sell short-dated stock first or plan returns to each company.

5. 5

   Take back breakage and expiry from your customers

   Record damaged and expired goods received from retailers party-wise. ValueSoft keeps a product-wise ledger for goods and breakage, with the bill, party and expiry details of each entry.

6. 6

   Send returns to the supplier and settle them

   Track breakage and expiry supplier-wise. Issue slips or credit notes, merge several memos into one, and run the settled/pending report to see which claims the company has cleared.

7. 7

   Write off what can't be returned (self-breakage)

   Goods that expire in your own godown and cannot go back can be deducted from stock with the self-breakage option, so your stock report shows only what you can sell.

8. 8

   Keep party records tidy

   Join breakage memos, and tag one party to another when a firm changes its name, so old claims are not lost under the old name.

What is FEFO, and how do near-expiry reports help?

FEFO means "first expiry, first out": you sell the batch that expires first, even if you bought it later. It is the simplest way to cut expiry losses. In ValueSoft it is part of billing: when you bill an item, ValueSoft offers the earliest-expiry batch first. The expiry is on the billing screen, the near-expiry warning comes up while you bill, and the 30/60/90-day report tells you which batches to push this week.

The near-expiry report also helps you decide what to return. If you deal with many companies, a company-wise list of short-dated stock lets you prepare one return per principal (the company whose goods you distribute) instead of sorting cartons by hand.

Who uses batch and expiry tracking?

Which ValueSoft plans include batch and expiry tracking?

The Breakage & Expiry System and Stock Report & Goods Ledger are in all five desktop plans, from Mini to Max. All prices are one-time and include GST.

Compare every feature on the pricing page.

Two things to check before you choose. Basic gives unlimited billing but leaves out GST reports and accounting, and Credit / Debit Note is not in Basic. If you settle expiry returns with credit notes, choose Mini, Lite, Plus or Max.

Your retailers can also handle breakage and expiry returns from their phones with the eRetail app. Breakage / Expiry Returns is in the Retail Stock, Retail Plus and Retail Advanced plans (yearly, GST included).

GST rules for returning expired medicines

Expired medicines usually travel back up the chain: chemist to wholesaler, wholesaler to manufacturer. CBIC Circular No. 72/46/2018-GST (26 October 2018) says the retailer or wholesaler can follow either of two methods:

• Return as a fresh supply. A registered person (other than a composition dealer) issues a tax invoice for the returned goods. The value on the original invoice can be used, and the receiver can take ITC (input tax credit, the GST paid on purchases that you set off against GST on sales) subject to Section 16 of the CGST Act. A composition dealer issues a bill of supply. An unregistered person can use any commercial document, without tax.
• Credit note from the supplier. The goods go back on a delivery challan, and the original supplier issues a credit note under Section 34 of the CGST Act.

The circular also says that when a manufacturer destroys returned expired goods, it must reverse the ITC taken on that return supply, under Section 17(5)(h) of the CGST Act. That clause blocks ITC on goods that are destroyed or written off. So when you use self-breakage for stock that will be destroyed, ask your CA how to handle the ITC on it.

Sources

• CBIC Circular No. 72/46/2018-GST: return of time-expired drugs or medicines (GST Council)
• Recommendations of the 57th meeting of the GST Council, 8 October 2026 (Press Information Bureau)