What is Stock transfer?

How it works in practice

A tidy transfer has four steps. The receiving location asks for stock with a requisition. Someone approves it, in full or in part. The sending location dispatches the goods and records exactly what left, naming the batch where the trade uses batches. The goods then sit in transit until the receiving end counts them and confirms receipt.

As an example, a hardware dealer keeps cement in a godown and sells from a shop down the road. The shop asks for 50 bags. The godown approves 40, because that is what it can spare, loads them with a delivery chalan and marks them dispatched. While the truck is on the road, those 40 bags are on neither shelf but are still the dealer’s stock. At the shop, 38 bags are good and 2 are torn, so the shop receives 38 and settles the other 2 with a reason, such as damage.

How it differs from a sale

A transfer does not change what the business owns or what anyone owes, so it is not a sale and needs no tax invoice. A chalan travels with the goods to show what was sent, but it is the transfer record that keeps stock correct at both ends.

Common mistakes

Where it matters most

Shops with a separate godown, hardware and building-supply yards with several sheds, FMCG distributors selling out of a trade counter, and pharmacies keeping a cold room apart from the shelf.

In Kuver Books, a transfer runs as a requisition, a stock issue, stock in transit and a confirmed receipt. There are unlimited warehouses on every plan; a single branch is covered on Standard and Premium, and Enterprise covers multi-branch, priced with you. The guide to inventory across branches and warehouses sets out the process in more detail.