POS price in India in 2026 — what a retail till actually costs in INR
Last reviewed 2026-05-27 · by the RetailPOS team
Indian retailers shopping for a POS get quoted prices ranging from ₹0 (free shareware, basic billing apps) to ₹5,00,000+ (custom-built Windows POS with bespoke development) for what looks superficially like the same product. The honest breakdown lives in the total cost over 3 years — software subscription, hardware, GST e-invoicing, UPI + card processing fees, ongoing support, the upgrade-or-rewrite cost when the vendor disappears.
The TL;DR: a healthy cloud POS subscription costs ₹2,500-9,000 per shop per month depending on tier; hardware costs ₹40,000-2,00,000 per till for a decent setup; UPI + card processing is transaction- percentage rather than subscription (UPI sub-₹2000 is fee-free per regulatory carve-out); GST e-invoicing ranges from included-in- subscription (RetailPOS) to ₹1,500-5,000 per month additional (GSP/ ASP partners) to ₹1,00,000+ one-time (custom build). 3-year total for a single shop typically lands between ₹2,50,000 and ₹8,00,000 all-in.
Software subscription — the monthly base cost
Most modern POS systems charge a monthly per-shop subscription. India market 2026:
- RetailPOS — USD-priced subscription at the platform level (single product on every plan: multi-store, recipe-based inventory, offline-first, 13 vertical kits). At current INR exchange rate, around ₹2,500-5,900 per shop per month depending on tier. Free until your first 100 sales — onboarding period is genuinely cost-free.
- Vyapar — Indian-built billing-focused. Free desktop tier with paid mobile + multi-user tiers. All-in for typical multi-shop retail: ₹1,200-3,500 per shop per month. Free tier exists but lacks GST e-invoicing for above-threshold retailers.
- Razorpay POS — payments-first; POS as part of the broader Razorpay ecosystem. Subscription bundled with payment-processing fees; per-shop monthly often ₹2,000-5,000 effective once you add the features needed.
- Just Billing — Indian-built; subscription ₹1,500-4,000 per shop per month all-in.
- Pine Labs — terminal + POS combined; popular at modern retail chains. Subscription bundled with terminal; per-shop monthly ₹3,000-8,000 effective.
- Tally Prime + retail add-on — for shops that want Tally as primary. Tally Prime license ₹18,000 one-time + retail add-on ₹15,000-50,000 one-time + annual maintenance. Better as the books layer with a separate POS on top.
- Regional Windows POS (custom Windows-based, regional vendors) — one-time license ₹25,000-1,50,000 per till plus annual maintenance ₹10,000-40,000. Looks cheap in year 1; ages into cost in year 2+.
- International (Square, Shopify POS, Lightspeed) — limited India presence; pricing in USD; GST e-invoicing absent or via third-party PSI.
- Custom build — bespoke development ₹4,00,000-25,00,000 one-time + 15-25% annual maintenance. Rarely the right answer in 2026 except for genuine enterprise multi-location with specialised compliance.
The honest comparison: per-shop per-month, RetailPOS and the major Indian alternatives are roughly competitive on price. The difference shows in: GST e-invoicing handling (included in RetailPOS, separate GSP/ASP relationship in Vyapar / Just Billing / others), multi-shop included on every plan (RetailPOS) vs paid feature (most others), offline reliability, and the 13-vertical-kit coverage out-of-the-box.
Hardware — what a till actually costs in INR
A working POS till needs: tablet/PC, receipt printer, cash drawer, barcode scanner, optional customer-facing display, card terminal (typically bank-provided separately). INR breakdown for a decent setup:
- iPad 9th/10th gen new via Apple Premium Reseller (Maple, Imagine, iPlanet): ₹35,000-45,000. iPad refurb via Apple Refurbished Store or Cashify-verified: ₹22,000-30,000. iPad Mini for tight-counter shops: ₹50,000 new, ₹32,000 refurb.
- Receipt printer — Star TSP143IIIBI Bluetooth: ₹15,000-18,000. Epson TM-m30II: ₹16,000-20,000. Local-market 3-inch thermal printers from electronics traders: ₹3,500-6,000 (lower reliability but workable for high-volume cost-sensitive operations).
- Cash drawer — APG and Posiflex 16-inch with bill compartments: ₹7,000-12,000. Local-brand alternatives: ₹4,000-6,500.
- Barcode scanner — Honeywell/Zebra via authorised distributor: ₹6,000-10,000. Local-market Symbol-rebrand/generic CCD: ₹1,800-3,500 (monthly-replacement-budget caveat).
- Customer-facing display — secondary iPad or USB customer display: ₹10,000-25,000.
- UPS — 4-6 hour runtime: ₹3,000-8,000.
- UPI soundbox — Paytm Soundbox / PhonePe SmartSpeaker: free with merchant account (₹0-2,000 if paid).
Single till entry-level setup (iPad refurb + Star printer + APG drawer + cheap scanner): ₹50,000-65,000 all-in.
Single till mid-market setup (iPad new + Star printer + APG drawer + Honeywell scanner + customer display + UPS): ₹85,000-1,20,000 all-in.
Hardware lasts 3-5 years with reasonable care. Amortising the mid-market setup over 4 years: roughly ₹2,000-3,000 per month per till in hardware amortisation.
UPI + card processing fees
UPI under ₹2,000 — zero merchant fee per regulatory carve-out (the majority of small-ticket retail transactions, particularly kirana). UPI above ₹2,000 — typically 0.5-1% (verify with provider; subject to change).
Card processing in India — debit cards typically 0.9-1.5%, credit cards 1.5-2.5%; rates vary by bank + volume tier + card network. Bank-issued POS terminals from HDFC / ICICI / Axis / SBI / Kotak / Yes Bank — monthly terminal rental ₹0-1,500 depending on negotiation + transaction percentage.
Aggregators (Razorpay POS, Pine Labs, Mswipe) — typically bundle multiple tenders (card + UPI + wallet) under one settlement. Effective rate 1.5-2.5% blended depending on tender mix.
For a shop doing ₹15 lakh/month in revenue with 60% UPI + 25% card + 15% cash, processing fees: UPI fees ~₹2,500-5,000/month (mostly the above-₹2000 portion), card fees ~₹6,000-9,000/month, cash zero. Total payment processing cost ~₹8,000-14,000/month. Same regardless of POS software.
GST e-invoicing — included vs add-on vs custom
E-invoicing cost varies dramatically by vendor:
- RetailPOS — included in the standard subscription for standard retail categories. No per-invoice fee, no separate GSP/ASP relationship needed.
- Vyapar / Just Billing + GSP/ASP — requires separate GSP/ASP relationship. Fees typically ₹1,500-5,000 per month per GSTIN plus sometimes per-invoice fee. Adds latency to checkout.
- Razorpay POS — e-invoicing typically bundled at certain tiers; verify per-invoice fee.
- Regional Windows POS — integration varies. Some include it; some require add-on module (one-time ₹30,000-1,00,000 plus annual maintenance).
- Custom build — typically ₹1,50,000-4,00,000 one-time for e-invoicing as part of custom build, plus ongoing maintenance.
For covered retailers (above ₹5 crore threshold), e-invoicing is non-negotiable. The hidden cost differential between an included- in-subscription POS and a GSP/ASP-add-on POS is often ₹20,000- 60,000 per shop per year — meaningful at scale and even at single-shop scale over a 3-year period.
The 3-year total cost — single shop, side by side
Realistic 3-year all-in cost for an Indian above-threshold retail single-shop with single till, doing ₹15 lakh/month revenue:
RetailPOS path:
- Software subscription (mid-tier Pro): ₹5,000/month × 36 months = ₹1,80,000
- Hardware (mid-market setup, amortised): ₹90,000 one-time
- Payment processing (60% UPI + 25% card + 15% cash): ₹11,000/month × 36 = ₹3,96,000
- GST e-invoicing: included in subscription
- Support + training: included
- 3-year total: ₹6,66,000
Vyapar + GSP/ASP path:
- Vyapar subscription mid-tier: ₹2,500/month × 36 = ₹90,000
- GSP/ASP for e-invoicing: ₹3,000/month × 36 = ₹1,08,000
- Hardware: ₹90,000 one-time
- Payment processing: ₹11,000/month × 36 = ₹3,96,000
- Support: per-incident, allow ₹15,000-30,000 over 3 years
- 3-year total: ₹7,07,000
Regional Windows POS path:
- License + e-invoicing add-on one-time: ₹1,20,000
- Annual maintenance: ₹20,000 × 3 = ₹60,000
- Hardware: ₹90,000 one-time
- Payment processing: ₹11,000/month × 36 = ₹3,96,000
- Support + customisation: allow ₹40,000-80,000 over 3 years
- 3-year total: ₹7,26,000 (with version-lock-in and vendor-disappearance risk)
Custom build path:
- Custom development + e-invoicing: ₹8,00,000 one-time
- Annual maintenance + bug fixes: ₹1,20,000 × 3 = ₹3,60,000
- Hardware: ₹90,000 one-time
- Payment processing: ₹11,000/month × 36 = ₹3,96,000
- 3-year total: ₹16,46,000 (plus key-person dependency risk)
For an Indian above-threshold retail shop, modern cloud POS (RetailPOS or competitive equivalents) is roughly ₹40,000-60,000 cheaper over 3 years than regional Windows POS once e-invoicing and ongoing maintenance are priced in, and dramatically cheaper than custom build. Vyapar + GSP/ASP is competitive but loses the single-vendor-accountability advantage.
Multi-shop economics — where the gap widens
For multi-shop operations, per-location economics drive the choice harder. RetailPOS' multi-store-on-every-plan means a 4-shop operation pays the same per-shop subscription as a 1-shop operation. Many regional Windows POS vendors charge per-license per-till; some platforms charge multi-location premium tiers; GSP/ASP fees multiply per GSTIN.
For a 4-shop Mumbai+Pune+Bangalore+Delhi operation, 3-year totals diverge: RetailPOS path ~₹20-22 lakh all-in; Vyapar+GSP path ~₹25-28 lakh; regional Windows path ~₹22-25 lakh but with each shop's upgrade scheduled independently. The total saving on RetailPOS at multi-shop scale pays for the head-office finance person tracking it.
Hidden costs to watch for
Quotes that look attractive sometimes hide:
- Per-transaction overage fees — some POS subscriptions cap transactions per month; busy shops hit overage during Diwali/wedding season at unfavourable rates.
- Receipt-printer paper — recurring consumable, ₹200-600 per month per till.
- Internet connectivity — assume ₹800-2,500/month per shop for reliable broadband; mobile-data backup for tier-2 + tier-3 cities.
- Cashier training + churn — every cashier change is half a day of training. Indian retail workforce typically sees 3-8 cashier turnovers per year per shop.
- Annual price increases — both subscription + GSP/ASP fees typically increase 5-15% annually. Build into the 3-year projection.
- End-of-life hardware — iPads phased out around year 5; budget the replacement.
- GSTR-9 annual return preparation — accountant fee typically ₹3,000-15,000 per year per GSTIN regardless of POS.
Frequently asked
- What does RetailPOS cost in INR?
- The subscription is priced in USD at the platform level; at current INR exchange rate, around ₹2,500-5,900 per shop per month depending on tier. Free until your first 100 sales for genuine onboarding. See /pricing/in for the current INR-converted tier breakdown.
- Is the GST e-invoicing integration extra?
- For standard retail categories on RetailPOS — no, included in the subscription. No per-invoice fee, no separate GSP/ASP relationship. Specialised categories may have category-specific arrangements; confirm at sign-up.
- Should I buy iPad new or refurbished?
- Refurbished from a reputable source (Apple Refurbished Store, Cashify-verified) saves ₹13,000-15,000 per till and works fine for POS. Grey-market import is cheaper but warranty support is informal. Match the choice to how critical till uptime is.
- How much will UPI + card processing cost?
- UPI sub-₹2,000 zero merchant fee; UPI above ₹2,000 typically 0.5-1%; card processing 0.9-2.5% depending on type + bank. For a shop doing ₹15 lakh/month revenue with typical UPI + card mix, expect ₹8,000-14,000/month in processing. Same regardless of POS software.
- Is custom-build POS worth considering?
- Rarely in 2026. Custom build costs ₹8-25 lakh one-time plus ₹1.2 lakh/year maintenance; modern cloud POS handles 95%+ of Indian retail requirements at a fraction of the cost. The exception is genuine enterprise multi-location operations with specialised compliance requirements outside standard GST scope.
- What's the 3-year total for a single shop?
- Typical Indian above-threshold single-shop, mid-market hardware, ₹15 lakh monthly revenue: ₹6.5-7 lakh all-in over 3 years on RetailPOS (including software, hardware, processing, e-invoicing). Other paths run higher; see the breakdown above for the side-by-side comparison.
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