Many Indian businesses grow into a group: a manufacturing company, a trading firm, a proprietorship for a showroom, and perhaps an LLP that owns the land. Each has its own books, GST registrations and bank accounts. The owner wants one answer to simple questions: how much did we sell, how much cash do we have, who owes us.
01Keep the books separate, the view together
Each company must keep its own accounts and file its own returns. That does not change. What changes is that the same customer, supplier and product are set up once and used by every company, so their figures can be added up without guesswork.
02Transactions inside the group
When the manufacturing company sells to the group's trading firm, that is a real sale with GST in each company's books. In a group view, it is only stock moving from one pocket to another. Mark these as inter-company so the group report can leave them out; otherwise group sales look larger than they are.
Inter-company balances should also match: what the trading firm owes the manufacturer must equal what the manufacturer shows as receivable. Check this every month, not at year end.
03The group dashboard
| View | Shows |
|---|---|
| Sales | By company, plant and product line, without inter-company sales |
| Cash | Balance in every bank account of every company |
| Dues | Customers who owe any company in the group |
| Stock | By location and company, with value |
04Statutory consolidation
A company with subsidiaries must also prepare consolidated financial statements under section 129(3) of the Companies Act, 2013. That is work for your auditor and follows accounting standards; the management view above is what the owner uses every day.
In MatruOS, each company keeps its own books and returns, the masters are shared, inter-company sales are marked, and the owner sees the group in one view.