Claude with Google Sheets and Excel: 15 Automation Prompts for Indian Business

Millions of Indian SMBs run their businesses on Excel and Google Sheets. GST reconciliation, payroll, inventory tracking, P&L — it all lives in spreadsheets. Most business owners know they should be doing this more efficiently. What most don't know is that Claude can write the formulas, build the macros, clean the data, and explain what the numbers mean — and you don't need to be a developer to use it.

Here's how.

How to use Claude with your spreadsheet (3 options)

Option 1 — Paste the data into Claude (simplest)

Copy a table from your sheet (Ctrl+C from a selected range), paste it into Claude with your question. Claude reads tabular data well even without formatting. Works for:

• Analysing trends in your data
• Getting formulas for a specific calculation
• Finding errors or inconsistencies

Best for: ad-hoc analysis and formula writing where you have a specific question.

Option 2 — Describe your sheet structure

You don't always need to paste the data. Describe your columns and a few sample rows. Ask Claude to write formulas or Google Apps Script code. Paste the formula back into your sheet, or the script into Tools → Apps Script.

Example: "I have a sheet with columns A (Invoice Date), B (Customer Name), C (Invoice Amount), D (GST Amount), E (Payment Date). Write a formula that calculates days outstanding for unpaid invoices and flags anything over 45 days."

Best for: formula writing, script generation, template creation.

Option 3 — Claude in Excel (Microsoft 365 Copilot)

If you have Microsoft 365 Business or higher, Microsoft Copilot is built into Excel. Click the Copilot button in the ribbon, type your request in natural language. It writes formulas and creates charts without copying data out.

Note: requires a Microsoft 365 Business subscription (~₹850/user/month) and an international payment method. For most Indian SMBs, Options 1 or 2 are more practical — use AICredits.in to access Claude directly with UPI payment at ₹100 minimum.

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GST and compliance prompts

1. GST reconciliation checker

Paste this prompt to Claude along with your data:

I have two datasets:

My sales register (columns: Invoice No, Date, Customer GSTIN, Taxable Value, CGST, SGST, IGST, Total) [PASTE SALES REGISTER DATA HERE]

My GSTR-1 data (exported from GST portal) [PASTE GSTR-1 DATA HERE]

Please identify:

1. Invoices in my sales register that are NOT in GSTR-1
2. Invoices in GSTR-1 that are NOT in my sales register
3. Invoices that appear in both but have amount mismatches above ₹100

Present results as three separate lists with invoice numbers. Also give me a summary count.

When to use: before filing GSTR-1 each month. Running this check takes 5 minutes; finding and fixing a discrepancy after filing takes hours plus a GST consultant's fee.

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2. GST invoice formula generator

I have a Google Sheet for generating invoices. My columns are:

• Column A: Description
• Column B: HSN code
• Column C: Quantity
• Column D: Rate (price per unit)
• Column E: Taxable Amount (=C*D)
• Column F: GST Rate %
• Column G: CGST Amount
• Column H: SGST Amount
• Column I: IGST Amount
• Column J: Total Amount

My seller state is [YOUR STATE]. I need to:

• Show CGST + SGST for intrastate sales (buyer state = seller state)
• Show IGST for interstate sales

I have a separate lookup sheet "GST_Rates" with HSN code in column A and applicable GST rate in column B.

Write the formulas for columns F through J. Also tell me where to put the customer state information so the formula can decide between CGST/SGST and IGST.

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3. ITR income summary from bank statement

From this bank statement data, help me prepare my income summary for ITR.

[PASTE BANK STATEMENT DATA: Date, Description, Debit, Credit, Balance]

Please:

1. Remove internal transfers (transfers between my own accounts — they'll be described as "SELF TRANSFER", "OWN ACCOUNT", or similar)
2. Remove FD maturity returns (usually described as "FD MATURITY", "TERM DEPOSIT")
3. Remove UPI received from family (usually small amounts from known names)
4. Categorise remaining credits as: Salary, Business income, Rental income, Interest income, Other income
5. Sum each category

Mark anything you're uncertain about with [VERIFY] so I can check it manually.

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4. TDS tracker template

Create a Google Sheets structure and formulas to track TDS deducted from vendor payments.

Requirements:

• Track payments made to vendors where TDS is applicable
• TDS sections I deal with: 194C (contractors), 194J (professional fees), 194H (commission)
• Need to know: how much TDS I've deducted each quarter, so I can pay it to the government on time

Please provide:

1. Column headers for the main data entry sheet
2. Formulas for calculating TDS amount for each payment (I'll specify the section)
3. A summary section showing total TDS deducted by section for each quarter
4. A reminder column that flags if the quarterly TDS payment deadline is approaching

TDS payment deadlines: 7th of month following deduction (except March: 30 April).

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Payroll and HR prompts

5. Salary slip PDF generator (Google Apps Script)

Write a Google Apps Script that generates salary slip PDFs for employees.

My payroll data sheet has these columns: Employee Name, Employee ID, Designation, Basic, HRA, Transport Allowance, Other Allowance, Gross Salary, PF Employee, PT (Professional Tax, ₹200 for salary above ₹15,000 in Karnataka — adjust if different state), TDS, Total Deductions, Net Salary.

The script should:

1. Loop through each employee row
2. Create a formatted salary slip for [MONTH YEAR]
3. Save each slip as a PDF named "[Employee Name] - Salary Slip [Month Year].pdf" to a Google Drive folder called "Salary Slips/[Month Year]/"

Include the company name "[YOUR COMPANY NAME]" and logo (I'll add the logo manually — just leave a space).

Also include the company's TAN and CIN in the slip footer.

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6. PF and ESI calculator formulas

Write Google Sheets formulas to calculate PF and ESI contributions.

My salary data has:

• Column A: Employee Name
• Column B: Basic Salary
• Column C: Gross Salary (all components)

I need formulas for:

1. Employee PF: 12% of basic, maximum ₹1,800/month (i.e., 12% of basic capped at ₹15,000 basic)
2. Employer PF — EPF portion: 3.67% of basic (capped same as above)
3. Employer PF — EPS portion: 8.33% of basic, capped at ₹1,250/month
4. Employee ESI: 0.75% of gross salary, only if gross ≤ ₹21,000
5. Employer ESI: 3.25% of gross salary, only if gross ≤ ₹21,000

Also write a formula for total employer cost (Basic + HRA + other allowances + Employer PF + Employer ESI).

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7. Attendance-based salary calculator

I track attendance in Google Sheets. I need a formula to calculate the actual salary for partial months.

My columns:

• Column A: Employee Name
• Column B: Monthly Gross Salary (for a full month)
• Column C: Total working days in this month
• Column D: Days present
• Column E: Paid leave days used
• Column F: Half days (count as 0.5 day)
• Column G: Overtime hours

Rules:

• Earned salary = (Gross / Working days) × (Days present + Paid leave + Half days × 0.5)
• LOP deduction = (Gross / Working days) × absent days (unpaid)
• Overtime rate = Basic / (Working days × 8 hours) × 1.5

Write formulas for: earned salary, LOP deduction, overtime pay, and net payable salary.

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Inventory and operations prompts

8. Stock reorder alert formula

Write Google Sheets formulas to flag items that need reordering.

My inventory sheet has columns:

• A: Item Name
• B: SKU
• C: Current Stock (units)
• D: Reorder Point (minimum stock level)
• E: Last Purchase Date
• F: Average Daily Sales (units/day)

I need:

1. A formula in column G that shows "REORDER NOW" if current stock < reorder point, "OK" if stock is above reorder point + 30 days' supply, and "MONITOR" in between
2. A formula in column H that shows estimated days of stock remaining (Current Stock / Average Daily Sales)
3. A formula in column I that calculates the suggested order quantity to bring stock to 60 days' supply

Also write a formula at the top that counts how many items are in "REORDER NOW" status.

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9. FIFO inventory valuation

I need to value my closing inventory using the FIFO method for my year-end accounts.

I have:

• Purchase history: Date, Quantity purchased, Unit cost
• Sales history: Date, Quantity sold

[PASTE PURCHASE HISTORY] [PASTE SALES HISTORY]

Please:

1. Walk me through the FIFO calculation step by step
2. Tell me the closing inventory quantity and value
3. Tell me the COGS (cost of goods sold) for the period

If my data has any gaps or inconsistencies (e.g., more sold than purchased), flag them.

Note: for this one, pasting the raw data to Claude and asking for the calculation is often faster than building a spreadsheet formula, especially for complex FIFO with multiple purchases at different prices.

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10. Purchase order tracker template

Build me a Google Sheets purchase order tracking template.

I need to track:

• PO Number (auto-generated in format PO-2026-001)
• Supplier name
• Item(s) ordered (multiple items per PO)
• Total PO value (₹)
• PO date
• Expected delivery date
• Actual delivery date
• Status: Draft / Sent / Partially received / Complete / Cancelled
• Payment status: Unpaid / Partially paid / Paid
• Payment date
• Notes

Also create a summary dashboard section (on the same sheet or a separate sheet) showing:

• Total outstanding PO value
• Count of POs overdue (expected delivery date passed, status not Complete)
• Top 5 suppliers by PO value this month

Give me the column structure, any formulas, and conditional formatting suggestions (e.g., highlight overdue POs in red).

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11. Vendor payment aging report

Write formulas to create a vendor payment aging report from my invoices data.

My invoices sheet has:

• Column A: Vendor name
• Column B: Invoice date
• Column C: Invoice number
• Column D: Due date
• Column E: Invoice amount (₹)
• Column F: Amount paid (₹, 0 if unpaid)

I need:

1. Column G: Outstanding amount (E - F)
2. Column H: Days overdue (=TODAY() - Due date, 0 if not yet due or fully paid)
3. Column I: Aging bucket — Current (not yet due) / 0-30 days / 31-60 days / 61-90 days / 90+ days

Then at the bottom, create a summary table showing total outstanding in each aging bucket.

Also write a formula that shows me the total overdue amount for a specific vendor (I'll type the vendor name in a cell and the formula should filter for it).

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P&L and financial analysis prompts

12. Monthly P&L summary for WhatsApp

Here's my P&L data for [MONTH] [YEAR]:

[PASTE P&L DATA OR KEY FIGURES]

Write a 5-line WhatsApp message for our monthly business review. Include:

1. Revenue this month vs last month (absolute numbers + % change)
2. Total expenses vs last month
3. Net profit/loss and margin
4. Biggest expense category and whether it's in line with expectation
5. One action point for next month

Format: casual but clear, like a CFO sending a quick update to the promoter. Numbers: use Indian format (₹X lakhs or ₹X crores, not millions). Length: 5 lines maximum. No tables, no headers — it's going in a WhatsApp message.

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13. Break-even calculator and chart

Build a break-even analysis model in Google Sheets for my business.

My numbers:

• Fixed monthly costs: [LIST YOUR FIXED COSTS — rent, salaries, EMIs, etc.]
• Variable cost per unit: ₹[AMOUNT]
• Selling price per unit: ₹[AMOUNT]

I need:

1. Break-even quantity (units/month)
2. Break-even revenue (₹/month)
3. Margin of safety: if I'm selling [N] units/month, how far above break-even am I?
4. A table showing profit/loss at different sales volumes (from 50% of break-even to 200%)

Please provide:

• The formulas for each calculation
• Instructions for creating a chart that shows the cost line, revenue line, and break-even point
• Explanation of what the margin of safety number means practically

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14. 6-month cash flow forecast

Help me build a 6-month cash flow forecast in Google Sheets.

Historical data (last 6 months): [PASTE MONTHLY REVENUE AND EXPENSE DATA]

Business assumptions:

• I typically collect payment [X] days after invoicing (debtors)
• I typically pay suppliers [Y] days after their invoice (creditors)
• Seasonal pattern: [DESCRIBE IF APPLICABLE, e.g., "sales peak in October-November due to Diwali"]

I need:

1. Projected monthly revenue (with explanation of how you're forecasting it)
2. Projected collections (accounting for the collection lag)
3. Projected payments (accounting for payment terms)
4. Net cash position each month
5. A flag if the projected balance drops below ₹[YOUR THRESHOLD — e.g., 2 months' fixed costs]

Present as a table I can copy into Google Sheets, plus the formulas.

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15. Indian number format converter (Apps Script)

Write a Google Apps Script function to format numbers in Indian number system (lakhs and crores) throughout a spreadsheet.

Requirements:

1. A function formatIndianNumber(number) that returns a formatted string:
   • Numbers up to 99,999: show as-is with comma (e.g., 45,000)
   • Numbers from 1 lakh to 99 lakhs: show as "X.XX L" (e.g., 12.50 L)
   • Numbers from 1 crore: show as "X.XX Cr" (e.g., 1.25 Cr)
2. A menu item in the spreadsheet called "Indian Format" that, when clicked, applies this formatting to all selected cells containing numbers above 99,999

Also write a simpler version that I can use directly as a formula in a cell (like =IndianFormat(A1)) so I can format specific cells without running the script on the whole sheet.

Note: this should work as display formatting, not change the underlying number.

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💡 Automate these workflows via API. If you want to connect Claude to your spreadsheets programmatically — auto-generating reports, running reconciliation on schedule — AICredits.in gives you Claude API access with UPI billing in India, no international card required.

Next steps

• AI prompts for chartered accountants in India — GST filings, audit prep, ITR
• AI prompts for small business owners — broader business operations
• AI prompts for Indian startup founders — fundraising, pitch decks, investor updates
• Professions hub — all profession-specific prompt collections