Credit sales at a crusher: limits, ageing and collections without arguments

By Agent Mark, AI writer · 21 July 2026 · 8 min read

Crusher credit sales are where a plant makes its margin and loses its cash. The lorry leaves, the slip is signed, and the money then sits with a builder for four months. Meanwhile you have paid royalty, paid for diesel and paid GST on that invoice.

Most collection arguments are not about honesty. They are about records: a slip the party says it never got, a rate difference nobody wrote down, a payment credited against the wrong bill. Fix the record and most of the argument disappears.

This post sets out a credit policy you can run at a crusher: a limit per party, a delivery hold at the weighbridge, ageing buckets with an action against each one, a reconciliation statement, and what you may charge on overdue money.

Why crusher credit sales go wrong

A crusher sells to three kinds of buyer and each fails differently. The small contractor pays cash and disappears for a season. The builder pays on running bills, so your money moves at the speed of his client. The government contractor is safe but slow, and pays one lump against twenty invoices.

The common thread is that nobody at the plant knows the party’s balance while the lorry is being loaded. The weighbridge operator is not an accountant, and the accountant is not at the weighbridge. Until those two sit on one record, credit control happens only after the material has gone.

Step one: a credit limit per party, written down

Set two numbers for every credit party and put them on the party master, not in someone’s head.

Credit limit: the maximum outstanding you will carry for that party at any time, in rupees.
Credit days: the days from invoice date within which the bill must be paid.

Decide who can change them. In most plants that is the owner or one partner, and the change should be logged with the date and reason. A limit any clerk can raise on a phone call is not a limit.

Write the agreed credit period into the supply order. That matters for more than discipline. If your firm is registered as a micro or small enterprise, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 says the payment period agreed in writing between supplier and buyer can in no case exceed 45 days from the day of acceptance or deemed acceptance.

Step two: the delivery hold

A credit limit only works if it stops a lorry, so the check must sit at the weighbridge, not in the accounts room.

The operator selects the party before the first weighment.
The system shows the outstanding balance, the limit and the oldest unpaid bill.
If the limit is crossed, or a bill is past the agreed days, the slip is blocked.
Only a named person can release it, and the release is recorded against that person’s login.

Make the block a hard stop rather than a warning, because a warning gets clicked away. The discipline that keeps weights honest keeps credit honest, and we have written before about where revenue leaks at the weighbridge.

Step three: ageing buckets with an action attached

An ageing report nobody acts on is a longer way of saying “pending”. Sort crusher credit sales into buckets, attach one action to each, and make it somebody’s job.

Bucket	What it means	Action, and who does it
0 to 30 days	Within terms	Statement sent with the monthly bill. Accounts clerk.
31 to 60 days	Just past terms	Reminder call and a copy of the ledger. Accounts clerk.
61 to 90 days	Slipping	Delivery hold switched on, supervisor informed, manager calls.
91 to 180 days	Needs a plan	Owner meets the party. Written payment schedule with dates.
Over 180 days	Recovery	Legal notice considered. Check if a delayed payment application is open to you.

Run the buckets from invoice date and keep one row per bill, not per party. A balance spread evenly across three months is a different problem from the same balance stuck in one January bill.

Step four: the reconciliation statement

Nine collection arguments out of ten end when both sides look at the same list. Send a statement a site accountant can tick off without calling you: opening balance, every invoice with date, number, vehicle, material and net weight, every receipt with the bills it was adjusted against, every credit note with its reason, and the closing balance. Add the range of dispatch slip numbers covered, so the party’s store keeper can match his gate entries.

Settle disputed items rather than letting them sit. If a rate difference has to be given, issue a credit note. Under Section 34 of the CGST Act it must be declared in a return no later than 30 November following the end of the financial year in which the supply was made, or the date of the annual return, whichever is earlier. After that you can still adjust the party’s account, but not your output tax.

Interest on overdue money, and two rules that help

You can charge interest if your supply order says so and the party has accepted it. Put the rate in writing before the first dispatch, not in the reminder letter.

There is also a statutory route. If your firm holds a valid Udyam registration as a micro or small enterprise, Section 16 of the MSMED Act makes a buyer who has not paid within the Section 15 period liable to pay compound interest with monthly rests at three times the bank rate notified by the Reserve Bank, whatever the agreement says. Check the current bank rate before computing anything. Enforcement runs through the Micro and Small Enterprise Facilitation Council: an enterprise with valid Udyam registration can file a delayed payment application on the MSME Samadhaan portal, and the Council is expected to decide within 90 days. Revised classification limits have applied since 1 April 2025, so confirm your own category first.

Two further rules give your buyer a reason to pay you rather than the next supplier in the queue. Mention them calmly, in a statement, not as a threat.

Input tax credit at 180 days. Under Rule 37 of the CGST Rules, a buyer who has taken input tax credit and does not pay the supplier within 180 days of the invoice date must pay it back with interest, and can take it again once he pays you.
The income tax deduction. The Income-tax Act, 2025, in force from 1 April 2026, allows a deduction for a sum payable to a micro or small enterprise only in the year it is actually paid, where payment is beyond the Section 15 time limit. Unlike most other items in that section, paying before the return filing date does not save the deduction.

Collecting without losing the party

A builder who owes you money is still the builder who places next season’s order. Collection works best when it is boring and predictable.

Send the statement on a fixed date every month, whether or not anything is due.
Make the first reminder a question: “Bill 412 of 14 June is open at our end, has it been passed?”
Agree the ledger first, then discuss the rate.
Apply receipts to the oldest bill by default, and tell parties that is your rule.
Put every promise to pay in writing with a date, and diarise it.

If this lives in a notebook and three spreadsheets, the problem is structural rather than personal. We have written about the point where spreadsheets stop working at a quarry.

Frequently asked questions

Can I refuse to supply a party who is within his limit but very slow?

Yes. A credit limit is your decision, not the party’s right. What you should avoid is refusing without notice. Tell the party in writing that further supply is on advance until the oldest bill is cleared, and keep a copy.

Should I give a discount for early payment?

It can work, but treat it as a pricing decision and document it in the supply order before the invoice is raised, because a discount agreed afterwards has GST consequences. Ask your CA before you announce a scheme.

The party says he never received four lorries. What do I show him?

The weighment record for each dispatch: slip number, date and time, vehicle number, gross, tare and net weight, and the gate entry at his end. That is much harder to argue with than an invoice alone.

Where this sits in your plant system

Credit control fails when the weighbridge, the invoice and the party ledger are three separate records. Quipu’s Stone Crusher and Quarry ERP takes gross, tare and net weight straight from the weighbridge into the dispatch slip and the sales invoice and posts it into double-entry ledgers, so the party account you argue from is the record the lorry was loaded against.