Credit ledger app for desi stores in the USA: house accounts in dollars, Urdu or English

A desi store in the US can keep its customer tabs, known as house accounts, in Munshi: in dollars, in Urdu or English, free and offline. Pakistani and South Asian grocery stores, halal meat shops, sweet shops, restaurants and gas stations often let regular customers, community members and mosque committees buy now and pay later. Card systems do not track that. A notebook does, until it does not. This guide shows how to keep those tabs on the phone.

Who this is for

• Stores that let regular families run a monthly tab.
• Restaurants and caterers with event customers who pay in parts.
• Gas stations and convenience stores with trusted local accounts.
• Wholesalers supplying smaller desi stores on credit.

If you only take card payments and never give credit, you do not need a khata app.

Set up

1. Install Munshi and sign in with your mobile number.
2. Create the business with your store name and set the currency to USD.
3. Add tab customers with what they currently owe. Import a list from Excel or CSV if you already keep one.
4. Save phone numbers so reminders reach the right person.

Recording a tab

When a customer takes goods on their tab, open their account and tap You gave, then the amount and a note such as “catering order, 40 plates” or “groceries”. When they pay, tap You got. The running balance is always on top. You can attach photos of the receipt, up to five per entry, which helps with catering and event orders.

Supplier credit too

Many desi stores also buy on credit from distributors. Add the distributor as a supplier: You got when goods arrive on credit, You gave when you pay them. Home then shows both totals: what customers owe you and what you owe suppliers.

Getting paid

At the end of the month, open Reminders, tick the customers with a balance, and tap Send reminders. Munshi opens WhatsApp for each one with a polite message and the amount. You press Send. For a large balance, share the customer’s statement PDF; it lists every entry with date and note, which ends most disputes.

For your accountant

Munshi is not bookkeeping software. It does not calculate sales tax, run payroll or produce a balance sheet. What it does give your accountant is clean records of the informal side: who owes what, cash in and out, bank balances and expenses by category, as PDF or Excel. See how to share reports with your accountant and our honest Munshi vs QuickBooks comparison.

Language

Owners often read Urdu while children or staff prefer English. Munshi switches between them with one tap, and statements come in either language, so an older customer can read theirs in Urdu.

Privacy and backup

Customer names, numbers and amounts are never shared with advertisers. Entries are saved on the phone first and synced, and backups go to the phone and your own Google Drive. Sign in on a new phone and everything returns.

A tab policy that works

• Decide a limit for each tab and write it in the customer’s note.
• Settle tabs monthly; old balances are the ones that go unpaid.
• Write every tab sale at the counter, with a note.
• Share the statement before the conversation, not after.

A worked example: a halal grocery

A halal grocery in New Jersey keeps 35 family tabs and supplies two restaurants on credit. Before Munshi, the tabs lived in a spiral notebook behind the register and the owner added them up every month by hand. With Munshi, each family and each restaurant is an account in USD. The cashier records each tab sale with a note (“meat 5 lb, rice”), the restaurants’ deliveries are recorded with a photo of the delivery slip, and the owner checks Today’s closing on his phone from home. On the 28th he sends reminders to everyone with a balance. The two restaurants get a statement PDF instead, because their accountants pay against a statement.

Common questions

Can I give a customer a discount? Record the discount as a payment with You got and a note “discount”, so the balance is right and the reason is visible.

A customer paid by Zelle or card. How do I record it? Record it with You got and write the method in the note. If it went to your bank account, it can also be recorded in the Bank Book.

What if two staff use it at once? Sign in on both phones with the same account. Entries from either phone appear on both.

Mistakes that cost stores money

• Letting tabs run for months without a statement.
• Recording tab sales at night from memory.
• Keeping no phone number for a tab customer.
• Mixing the family’s personal lending with store tabs; use a Personal khata for that.

None of this needs software that costs a monthly fee. A tab is just a ledger, and a ledger is what Munshi keeps.

Setting up in one afternoon

1. List every tab customer and what they owe today.
2. Add them to Munshi, or import the list from Excel.
3. Add your distributors as suppliers with what you owe them.
4. Sign in on the cashier’s phone.
5. Turn on Google Drive backup.
6. From tomorrow, record every tab sale at the register.

After the first month, compare the effort with the notebook. Most stores find that the month-end statement and the reminders alone save hours, and that customers argue less when every entry has a date and a note.

Munshi is free, made by DIGIT. Read more in khata for Pakistani shops abroad.