Indent Meaning
A formal replenishment request from distributor to brand specifying SKUs and quantities needed, the heartbeat of primary sales that drives production planning and dispatch cycles.
Full definition
| Definition | A requisition raised to a supplier requesting stock |
|---|---|
| Direction | Raised upward: distributor to company or super stockist |
| Contrast with order | An order is placed downward-facing; an indent requests supply |
| Contrast with PO | A purchase order is the formal commitment that follows |
| Typical cycle | Weekly or twice weekly in FMCG |
| Best basis | Secondary sales and days of cover, not last month's purchase |
| Common failure | Indenting to hit a scheme slab rather than to meet demand |
An indent is the Indian distribution term for a replenishment order placed upstream. When a distributor needs stock, they raise an indent against the brand's depot or factory, specifying the SKUs, quantities, and preferred delivery date. The indent is essentially a purchase order from the channel partner's side, though in many Indian operations the term "indent" is used even for internal stock transfers between a mother warehouse and a forward warehouse.
The indent cycle is the heartbeat of primary sales: distributors indent weekly or bi-weekly based on their secondary sales velocity, stock on hand, and upcoming schemes. Brands often set indent cut-off times (e.g., Tuesday 6 PM for Thursday dispatch) to batch orders and plan production. Late indents miss the cut-off and wait for the next cycle, potentially causing stockouts at retail.
Digital order management platforms let distributors raise indents from a mobile app, auto-suggest quantities based on historical offtake, and feed confirmed indents directly into warehouse picking queues, compressing the indent-to-dispatch cycle from 48 hours to under 12.
How an Indent Differs From an Order
In practice the words are used loosely, but the distinction is real. An indent is a requisition: a request raised upward through the chain asking to be supplied. A purchase order is the formal commitment that follows. A retailer's order to a distributor is normally called an order; a distributor's request to the company or super stockist is normally called an indent. The direction of travel is what separates them.
Why Indent Discipline Matters
The indent is where a distributor's working capital is committed, and it is usually raised on judgement rather than data. Two failures recur. Indenting on gut feel produces over-stock on slow lines and stock-outs on fast ones simultaneously, because the same intuition cannot track several hundred SKUs. And indenting to hit a scheme slab rather than to meet demand loads the godown with stock bought for a discount that then ages toward expiry, which is the mechanism behind most channel loading. Indents built from actual secondary sales and current days-of-cover rather than from last month's purchase are the single biggest improvement available to most distributors.
Real-world example
A Haldiram's distributor in Jaipur raises a weekly indent every Monday for Rs 4-5 lakh worth of namkeen and sweets, with dispatch expected by Wednesday from the Nagpur factory.
Indent: common questions
The questions people ask most often about indent in Indian distribution.
An indent is a requisition raised to a supplier requesting stock. In FMCG it usually means the distributor's periodic stock request to the company or super stockist, as opposed to the retailer's order placed with the distributor.
An indent is the request for supply; a purchase order is the formal commitment that follows it. In many operations the indent is converted into a PO once quantities and prices are confirmed.
Typically weekly or twice weekly in FMCG, and daily in dairy and other fresh categories where shelf life leaves no room to hold cover.
Actual secondary sales and current days of cover per SKU, rather than last month's purchase quantity. Indenting from purchase history repeats existing errors and cannot distinguish a fast SKU that stocked out from a slow one that never moved.
Because stock is bought to hit a discount slab rather than to meet demand. The godown fills with product that ages toward expiry, working capital is tied in slow inventory, and the following period's orders fall because the channel is already loaded.
Go deeper
Guides that use this term
The definition is the starting point. These walk through what it means for a working distribution business in India.
Where it applies
Applicable industries
This term is relevant across the following SpireStock-supported industries.
How SpireStock handles it
Related SpireStock features
The concepts described above are implemented end-to-end in these product modules.
Keep learning
Related terms
See Indent in action
Start a free trial and watch how SpireStock turns indent from a concept into a measurable, auditable workflow.