Paper and board
Reels by GSM, deckle and mill lot, found from the godown floor.
Kraft, duplex and coated board from several mills, sold by the reel, the ream or the kg. The pack is live at a stamping foil trader; no paper trader runs it yet.
Where the margin leaks
Two reels of the same GSM can come from different mill lots and look the same on the rack. Some buyers want reels, others want sheets. Ordence barcodes each reel with its mill lot, finds it by width and rack on a phone, prices each slit's waste in rupees, and quotes against landed cost with the margin in view.
How the paper trade works
Bought by GSM and BF, stocked by weight, sold by reel or ream.
GSM (grams per square metre) is weight, not thickness. Kraft also has a BF (burst factor), the strength box makers pay for. Duplex and coated board go by GSM and a grey or white back. Mills sell by the tonne, traders by the kg, so weight is the stock. Kg = GSM × width (m) × length (m) ÷ 1,000: a 120 GSM reel, 1.2 m wide and 5,000 m long, weighs 720 kg.
Width is called the deckle. A box maker's machine takes only certain deckles, so a wrong-width reel waits to be slit. Sheet buyers take a ream of 500 sheets, or by weight. Moisture and GSM tolerance mean the label and the scale can differ; the gap becomes a claim or a loss.
Units and documents
- On the reel. Mill, grade, GSM, BF for kraft, deckle, weight in kg and the mill's reel number.
- From the mill. The invoice and reel-by-reel weight list, the basis of any weight claim.
- For sheets. Size, GSM and reams, with weight as the check.
GST and HSN for paper and board
What GST asks of you
Uncoated kraft paper and board (4804), other uncoated paper (4805), corrugated paper (4808), coated board such as duplex (4810) and other coated paper (4811) are 18%, in Schedule II. Writing and printing paper (4802) is 18% too, apart from uncoated paper for exercise books and notebooks, which the notification carves out.
Newsprint (4801) and cartons and boxes of corrugated or non-corrugated board (4819 10, 4819 20) are 5%, in Schedule I. A box maker buying kraft at 18% and selling boxes at 5% piles up credit. Its refund covers input goods only, so it expects clean invoices with the right HSN.
What Ordence does
Every reel barcoded with its mill lot, found by width and rack.
Slits planned with the waste in rupees.
HSN on every invoice line, with CGST and SGST or IGST set from the buyer's state.
GST rates checked 14 October 2026 against Notification 9/2025-Central Tax (Rate), in force since 22 September 2025. Classification depends on the exact goods. Confirm yours with your CA.
In the system
These are the foil trader's screens: stock, a slitting plan, a quote. Check ream sales and weight claims on the fit call.
Questions
Can we find a reel from the godown floor?
Yes. Scan or type the label code on a phone to see size, rack, lot and the order it is held for.
A box maker rejects one reel. Which other buyers got that mill lot?
From the invoice to the reel and its mill lot, then a list of every other buyer who got that lot.
Can we upload our current stock list from Excel?
Yes. The upload must balance before it is accepted, so a list that does not add up never becomes your opening stock.
Send last month's mill weight lists.
With the deckles your box makers run. On the fit call we check how your reels, reams and weight claims would sit in Ordence.
Questions first? Email the founders.