FLR-3A Format: How to Fill the Brand-wise Register, Column by Column

The FLR-3A is the register an excise inspector reads line by line. It looks simple (brands down the side, numbers across), but most errors come from two things: reading the numbers as decimals when they are not, and losing track of which pack size a sale came from.

This guide walks through the form column by column, explains the bottles-and-pegs notation, and works one real-looking month from opening to closing. You can download a blank FLR-3A format and a filled sample at the end. For how FLR-3A fits with transport passes, the SCM upload and FLR-4, start with our overview of bar excise registers in Maharashtra.

What FLR-3A records

FLR-3A is the register of brand-wise transactions for foreign liquor. For a period (a day, a week or a month), it gives every brand and pack size four figures:

Figure	Meaning
Opening	Stock at the start of the period
Receipt	What came in during the period, against its transport pass
Sale	What was sold during the period
Closing Balance	Stock at the end of the period

The header

Three lines sit above the table:

• Register of brand-wise transactions effected by: the licensee's name, as on the licence
• Licence no.: for example FL. III / 0000
• Report from … to …: the period the figures cover

The table

The register is split into sections by class, such as imported liquor, Indian-made foreign liquor, wines, beer and draught beer. Each section has the same layout:

Brand Name	TP No	Opening	Receipt	Sale	Closing Balance
		one column per pack size	one column per pack size	one column per pack size	one column per pack size

• Brand Name: exactly as it appears in your excise master, one row per brand.
• TP No: the transport pass (FL 1-A pass) the receipt came in on. A receipt is entered on the pass date.
• Pack-size columns: each of the four figures is split by size (1L, 750, 700, 500, 375, 180, 90, 60 for spirits; 650, 500, 330 for beer). You only need the sizes you stock.

The numbers are bottles and pegs, not decimals

This is the rule that trips people up. In FLR-3A, the digits after the point count pegs, not tenths or hundredths of a bottle.

7.03 = 7 full bottles + 3 pegs of 30 ml

So 12.10 is 12 bottles and 10 pegs, and 2.15 is 2 bottles and 15 pegs. On a 750 ml bottle, 25 pegs make a bottle, so a figure never shows more than .24 for that size.

Pack size	Whole pegs per bottle (30 ml)
1 litre	33
750 ml	25
700 ml	23
500 ml	16
375 ml	12
180 ml	6
90 ml	3
60 ml	2

Only whole pegs count. A 700 ml bottle holds 23.3 pegs on paper, but you can only pour 23, so the register counts 23.

Three classes work differently:

• Wines count 150 ml glasses after the point. A 750 ml bottle holds 5 glasses, so 4.04 is 4 bottles and 4 glasses.
• Bottled beer is sold whole, so beer figures are whole bottles: 48.00, 70.00.
• Draught beer (kegs of 5 litres and up) is written in whole litres, in one litre column, with no decimals. Part-litres carry forward until they make a full litre.

The one rule every row follows

Opening + Receipt − Sale = Closing Balance

It holds for every brand and every pack size, and this period's closing is the next period's opening.

Because the decimals are pegs, you can't do this sum on a calculator directly. Convert to pegs (or millilitres), do the sum, and convert back.

A worked example

Here is one brand from the sample register, Highland Reserve Scotch Whisky in 750 ml, for November:

	Register figure	In pegs
Opening	12.10	12 × 25 + 10 = 310
Receipt	6.00	6 × 25 = 150
Sale	7.18	7 × 25 + 18 = 193
Closing	10.17	310 + 150 − 193 = 267 = 10 × 25 + 17

Done by hand, the subtraction borrows a bottle as 25 pegs, not 100: 18.10 − 7.18 becomes 17 bottles and 35 pegs, minus 7 bottles and 18 pegs, which leaves 10.17.

A calculator would give 18.10 − 7.18 = 10.92, which is wrong. A 750 ml bottle can never show .92.

Blank or 0.00?

• Opening, Receipt and Sale are movements. If nothing moved, leave the cell blank.
• Closing Balance is a stock level. If a pack you stock has run out, write 0.00, so it doesn't look like a missing entry.
• No figure is ever negative. The excise portal rejects it. A closing that wants to go below zero means a receipt is missing or a sale went to the wrong brand or size.

FLR-3A and the SCM upload use different decimals

The daily SCM upload to the excise portal counts the same sale differently. It reports loose bottles as a fraction. Three 60 ml pegs from a 750 ml bottle (180 ml) are:

Where	Written as	Why
FLR-3A register	0.06	6 pegs of 30 ml
SCM upload (loose bottle)	0.24	180 ÷ 750 of a bottle

Both are right in their own place. Copying one into the other is a common cause of registers that don't match the portal.

Common mistakes

1. Treating the pegs as decimals. Adding 12.10 and 4.20 as numbers gives 16.30, but on 750 ml it is 17.05 (430 pegs).
2. Mixing pack sizes. A sale from a 180 ml quarter posted against the 750 ml column leaves both columns wrong.
3. Brand names that don't match the excise master. The inspector matches names to passes. "Highland Reserve 12" and "Highland Reserve Scotch Whisky" are two different rows to them.
4. Receipts dated on entry, not on the pass. A pass received on the 30th but keyed in on the 2nd belongs to the earlier period.
5. A missing TP number. Every receipt needs the pass it came on.

Download the FLR-3A format

• FLR-3A format, Excel (.xlsx): a blank sheet, a filled sample and a "How to fill" sheet.
• FLR-3A format, PDF: the blank format and the sample, ready to print.

The sample uses made-up brands and a sample licence number, and every row balances. Check the current form prescribed by the State Excise Department before you file.

How Novota BEC fills it for you

Novota BEC builds the FLR-3A from your own stock: it reads transport passes as they arrive, turns POS sales into pegs and bottles through your drink recipes, and keeps sealed bottles and open millilitres separately. The register comes out in bottles and pegs, sized to the packs you actually stock, never negative, and reconciled to the stock ledger. It exports to Excel or PDF in one click. The monthly return is covered in our FLR-4 format guide.