Free calculators
Distribution calculators that show their work
Four calculators for the numbers that decide whether an Indian distribution business works: return on capital, margin after leakage, start-up investment, and what a trade scheme really costs. Each one shows the formula, three worked examples with the full arithmetic, and the category benchmark to judge your answer against.
Free · No sign-up · Runs entirely in your browser · Figures reviewed August 2026
Profitability
The two numbers that decide whether a distributorship is worth running: what you earn on each case, and what you earn on the capital tied up behind it. Most distributors track the first and never calculate the second.
Starting up
What it actually costs to open a distributorship in India, including the working capital that does not appear in any brand's appointment letter and causes most first-year cash crises.
Trade schemes
Schemes are the largest controllable cost in Indian general trade and the least accurately measured. A 10+1 is not a 10% discount, and most distributors budget as though it were.
In sequence
How to use these together
Run in isolation, each calculator answers a narrow question. Run in order, they tell you whether the business is working and which lever to pull first.
- 1
Start with margin, not turnover
Work out what you actually keep per case after schemes, damages and secondary transport. The price-list margin is not the number that should feed anything else. Most distributors discover their real margin is 1.5–2.5 percentage points below the headline.
FMCG Distributor Margin Calculator - 2
Check what schemes are really costing
If your margin came out thinner than expected, schemes are usually the reason. Convert each active scheme to its effective discount and compare against what you budgeted. Leakage of 20–30% is normal on manual systems and invisible without SKU-level reconciliation.
Trade Scheme Payout Calculator - 3
Feed the real margin into ROI
Now calculate return on the capital you have blocked in stock, receivables, deposits and infrastructure. This is the number brands assess you on and the one that tells you whether the business is worth the money in it.
FMCG Distributor ROI Calculator - 4
Size the capital before you commit
Considering a new brand or territory? Work out the full requirement including twelve-month working capital before signing, rather than discovering the gap in month three.
Distributorship Investment Calculator
Indian distribution benchmarks at a glance
Judge your calculated figures against these bands. Categories differ so much that a single “good” number is meaningless — dairy at a 3% margin turning stock every four days is a stronger business than personal care at 9% turning monthly.
| Category | Distributor margin | Stock days | Healthy annual ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dairy & fresh | 2–5% | 3–8 | 25–40% |
| General trade FMCG | 4–8% | 15–25 | 20–35% |
| Beverages | 4–7% | 10–20 | 20–35% |
| Packaged foods & snacks | 5–8% | 20–30 | 18–30% |
| Personal & home care | 6–10% | 25–40 | 30–50% |
| New / regional brands | 15–20% | 20–35 | Varies with sell-through |
Margin and ROI bands reflect SpireStock's published research on Indian distribution economics. Stock-day ranges are indicative of general-trade operations and vary by territory and brand terms. Figures reviewed August 2026.
Why trust these numbers
Same benchmarks as our published research
Every calculator on this page uses the same benchmark set as our published distribution research, so the numbers here will never contradict the guides they link to. General-trade FMCG ROI is banded at 20–35%, dairy at 25–40% and personal care at 30–50%, matching our distributor ROI guide.
The formulas are the ones Indian brands actually use when assessing a distributor, not textbook variants. ROI is calculated on total blocked capital — stock at cost, retailer receivables, security deposits and infrastructure — because excluding receivables is the single most common error and overstates returns by 40% or more.
Margins are quoted on cost rather than on selling price, following Indian FMCG convention. Where the distinction matters, both figures are shown so you can check which basis a brand is quoting you.
Nothing you type is sent anywhere. Every calculation runs in your browser, there is no sign-up, and no results are stored.
Sources
Related guides
Want the rules behind the maths? These walk through every case in plain English.
How to calculate distributor ROI in FMCG
The full formula, worked examples across three distributor sizes, and category benchmarks behind the ROI calculator.
FMCG distributor margin & profit guide
Where margin sits across the PTD–PTR–MRP chain, category-wise bands, and why headline margin overstates what you keep.
FMCG distribution startup checklist
Licences, capital, godown, beat plan and margins — everything needed to open a distributorship in India.
Preventing scheme leakage in FMCG
Where the 20–30% goes: ineligible SKUs, duplicate claims, post-expiry payouts and discretionary field extensions.
FMCG distributor appointment criteria
What brands actually assess before appointing a distributor, and why ROI matters more to them than turnover.
Amul distributorship: cost, margin & process
A worked example of what a national dairy distributorship costs to open and what it returns.
Terms used in these calculators
Every input on every calculator, defined with Indian FMCG examples.
- Distributor
- Super Stockist
- Primary Sales
- Secondary Sales
- Credit Period
- Margin Stacking
- Trade Scheme
- Scheme Leakage
- Quantitative Scheme
- Trade Discount
- Godown
- Beat Plan
Frequently asked
Are these calculators free?
Yes, all four are completely free with no sign-up, no email capture and no usage limit. Everything runs in your browser and nothing you enter is transmitted or stored.
Which calculator should I use first?
Start with the margin calculator to establish what you actually keep per case after schemes and damages, then feed that figure into the ROI calculator. Using a price-list margin in an ROI calculation overstates returns, because it ignores the 1.5–2.5 percentage points that typically leak away.
Where do the benchmark numbers come from?
They are drawn from SpireStock's published research on Indian distribution economics, and are deliberately identical to the figures in our written guides so the two never disagree. General FMCG ROI is banded at 20–35%, dairy at 25–40% and personal care at 30–50%. Every benchmark table names its source and the date it was reviewed.
Is distributor margin calculated on cost or on selling price?
Indian FMCG conventionally quotes margin on cost. A distributor buying at ₹100 and selling at ₹105 calls that a 5% margin; calculated on selling price the same transaction is 4.76%. The margin calculator shows both so you can confirm which basis a brand is using before agreeing terms.
Do these work for dairy distribution specifically?
Yes. The ROI calculator has a dairy category setting with the correct 25–40% benchmark band, and the investment calculator accounts for cold-chain setup. Dairy behaves very differently from general trade — thin 2–5% margins offset by stock turning every three to eight days — so applying general FMCG benchmarks to a dairy business gives misleading results.
Can I use these to evaluate a distributorship offer from a brand?
That is exactly what they are for. Use the investment calculator to size the full capital requirement including twelve-month working capital, the margin calculator to check the offered margin against category norms, and the ROI calculator to see whether the return justifies the capital. Deposits and opening stock are usually the smallest part of the commitment.
Why is a 10+1 scheme not a 10% discount?
Because the free unit spreads across eleven delivered units, not ten. The effective discount is 1 ÷ 11 = 9.09%. The general formula for a Q+F scheme is F ÷ (Q + F). Across a wide range over a quarter, budgeting at 10% instead of 9.09% distorts scheme provisioning materially.
Does SpireStock track these numbers automatically?
Yes. Stock days, collection days, margin by brand and scheme leakage are tracked live across every beat and SKU, so the figures you calculate here stay current without rebuilding a spreadsheet each month. There is a 30-day free trial with no credit card.
Track these numbers automatically
SpireStock monitors stock days, collections, margin by brand and scheme leakage live across every beat and SKU — so the figures you just calculated stay current without rebuilding a spreadsheet each month.
30-day free trial · No credit card · Data hosted in India