Exploring the influence of transition to GST on consumer behaviour related to FMCG in India

Abstract

Consumer buying behaviour is the sum total of a consumer's attitudes, preferences intentions, and decisions regarding the consumer's behavior in the marketplace when purchasing a product or service. Situational influences are temporary conditions that affect how buyers behave whether they actually buy particular product, buy additional products, or buy nothing at all. They include things like physical factors, social factors, time factors, the reason for the buyer’s purchase, and the buyer’s mood. Many times it has been observed that people may have difficulty in understanding the tax system as well as they have different perception on taxes on consumption. The implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) is expected to affect consumer behaviour in India. This paper attempts to examine the perception of buyers and sellers of FMCG towards the transition from sales tax to VAT and from here to GST.