This document provides an overview of consumer behavior and consumer rights in India. It defines consumer behavior as how individuals make purchasing decisions and interact with products and services. The key aspects covered include: - Definitions and meaning of consumer behavior - Differences between consumers and customers - Characteristics of Indian consumers, including value orientation, family orientation, and tradition - The six main consumer rights established in India, including safety, information, choice, redressal, and education - Responsibilities of consumers such as self-help, keeping transaction records, and proper use of products - A brief history of the consumer movement in India

1. Consumer Behavior
Prepared By
Dr Virupaksha Goud

2. Definitions of CB
“CB refers to the actions & decision process of
people who purchase goods & services for
personal consumption.”

3. Meaning & Defn of CB
Consumer Behavior is defined as the
behavior that consumers display in
searching for, purchasing, using,
evaluating, and disposing of products
and services that they expect will
satisfy their needs.

4. • Consumer behavior focuses on how individuals make
decisions to spend their available resources (time,
money, effort) on consumption-related items.
• The decisions include- What they buy, why they buy
it, when they buy it, where they buy it, how often
they buy it, how often they use it, how they evaluate
it after the purchase, the impact of such evaluations
on future purchases, and how they dispose of it.
• In order to succeed in today’s business marketers
need to know everything they can about consumers–
What they want, what they think, how they work,
how they spend their leisure time.
• They need to understand the personal and group
influences that affect consumer decisions and how
these decisions are made.

5. Difference between Consumer and
Customer
• A consumer buys goods and
services for his or her own use,
for the use of his household.
• 2 types- personal consumer
organizational consumer
• Here the person who purchases
is the final end-user.
• Example: If a person purchases a
tooth paste and he uses it then
he becomes the consumer as he
is using it.
• A customer may be the one who
just make a purchase- he may or
may not be the consumer.
• Here the person who purchase is
not the final end-user.
• Example: If a person purchases
toys and he gives it to his child to
play with it, then he becomes
just a customer and the child
becomes the consumer.

6. Nature & characteristics of Indian
Consumer
• The Indian consumers are noted for the high degree of value
orientation. Such orientation to value has labeled Indians as one of
the most discerning consumers in the world. Even, luxury brands
have to design a unique pricing strategy in order to get a foothold in
the Indian market.
• Indian consumers have a high degree of family orientation. This
orientation in fact, extends to the extended family and friends as
well. Brands with identities that support family values tend to be
popular and accepted easily in the Indian market.

7. Cont..
• Indian consumers are also associated with values of nurturing, care
and affection. These values are far more dominant that values of
ambition and achievement. Product which communicate feelings
and emotions gel with the Indian consumers.
• Apart from psychology and economics, the role of history and
tradition in shaping the Indian consumer behavior is quite unique.
Perhaps, only in India, one sees traditional products along side
modern products.

8. Cont…
• For example, hair oils and tooth powder existing with
shampoos and toothpaste. The characteristics of modern Indian
families now closely correspond with the concept of
liberalization, individualism, tolerance of new roles, behavior
and attitudes, with a newly seen empowerment of the
individual and openness to new people and experiences.

9. Rights
• In the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 of India, the following
six consumer rights have been recognized.
• Right to Safety
As stated in the Consumer Protection Act 1986, this consumer
right is defined as the ‘right to be protected against marketing
of goods and services which are hazardous to life and
property’. Specifically significant in areas such as healthcare,
food processing and pharmaceuticals, this right spans across
any domain that could have a serious impact on the
consumers’ health or well being such as Automobiles, Travel,
Domestic Appliances, Housing etc. Violation of this right is
almost always the cause of medical malpractice lawsuits in
India.

10. Cont..
• Right to Information
This consumer right is defined as the ‘the right to be informed about
the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods or
services, as the case may be so as to protect the consumer against
unfair trade practices’ in the Consumer Protection Act of 1986.
In the Indian market place, consumers get consumer information
through two popular, yet unreliable means, namely advertising and
word of mouth. Due to this, the consumers in India seldom have
accurate and complete information to assess the true value,
suitability, safety or reliability of any product.

11. Cont …
• Right to Choose
Consumer Protection Act 1986 defines this right as ‘the right to
be assured, wherever possible, to have access to a variety of
goods and services at competitive prices’. Competition,
invariably, is the best regulator of a market place.

12. Right to be Heard
This right is supposed to empower Indian consumers to fearlessly
voice their complaints and concerns against products and companies
to ensure their issues are handled efficiently and expeditiously.
However, to date the Government of India has not created a single
outlet for the consumers to be heard or their opinions to be voiced.
There are several websites that strive to do this, and the underlying
mission of Consumerdaddy is to ensure that the voices of the
consumers are heard by the corporate world. At the
Consumerdaddy.com website, consumers can upload criticisms and
file complaints.

13. Cont..
• Right to Redress
The right ‘to seek redressal against unfair trade practices or
restrictive trade practices or unscrupulous exploitation of
consumers’ is defined as the right to redressal in the Consumer
Protection Act 1986.
The Indian Government has been slightly more successful
with respect to this right.
Consumer courts such as District Consumer Disputes
Redressal Forums at the district level, State Consumer
Disputes Redressal Commissions and National Consumer
Disputes Redressal Commissions have been established
through the consumer protection act. Each of these consumer
grievance redressal agencies has fiduciary and geographical
jurisdictions to address consumer cases between consumers
and businesses.

14. • Healthy Environment
The right to a physical environment that will enhance the
quality of life includes protection against environmental
dangers over which the individual has no control. It
acknowledge the need to protect and improve the environment
for present and future generations.

15. Right to Consumer Education
• This right simply ensures that the consumers in India have
access to informational programs and materials that would
enable them to make better purchasing decisions.
• Consumer education may mean both formal education through
school and college curriculums and also consumer awareness
campaigns run by both governmental and non governmental
agencies (NGO).

16. • The right to satisfaction of basic needs.
• To have access to basic, essential goods and
services: adequate food,
• clothing, shelter, health care, education and
sanitation.

17. Responsibilities of Consumers
i) Responsibility of self-help :It is always desirable that a consumer
should not depend on the seller for information and choice as far as
possible. As a consumer, you are expected to act in a responsible
manner to protect yourself from being deceived. An informed
consumer can always take care of his/her interest more than any one
else. Also, it is always better to be forewarned and forearmed rather
than getting remedies after suffering a loss or injury.
(ii) Proof of Transactions: The second responsibility of every consumer
is that the proof of purchase and documents relating to purchase of
durable goods should be invariable obtained and preserved. For
example, it is important to get a cash memo on purchase of goods
You should remember that in case you have to make any complaint
about defects in goods, the proof of purchase will enable you to
establish your claim for repair or replacement of the goods.
Similarly, durable consumer goods like TV, refrigerator, etc. carry
warranty /guarantee cards issued by the dealers. The cards entitle
you to get the service for repairs and replacement of parts free of
cost during a certain period after purchase.

18. Cont…
iii) Proper claim: Another responsibility that consumers are
expected to bear in mind is that while making complaints and
claiming compensation for loss or injury, they should not
make unreasonably large claims. Very often, consumers have
to exercise their right to seek redressal in a court. There have
been cases in which consumers claimed huge compensation
for no apparent reason. This is regarded as an irresponsible act
which should be avoided.
(iv) Proper use of Product/services: Some consumers, especially
during the guarantee period, make rough use of the product,
thinking that it will be replaced during the guarantee period.
This is not fair on their part. They should always use the
products properly.

19. Cont..
• Critical Awareness
The responsibility to be more alert and questioning about the price and quality of
goods and services we consume.
• Action
The responsibility to assert ourselves by acting to ensure that we get a fair deal.
As long as we remain passive consumers we will continue to be exploited and
manipulated.
• Social Concern
The responsibility to consider the impacts of our consumption patterns and
lifestyles on other citizens especially the poor disadvantaged or powerless
consumers whether they be in the local national or international community.
• Environmental Awareness
The responsibility to realize the environmental costs and consequences of our
consumption patterns and lifestyles. We should recognize our individual and
collective social responsibility to conserve natural resources and to preserve earth
for present and future generations.
• Solidarity
The responsibility to come together and organize consumers in order to enhance
the strength and influence required to promote and protect our interests.

20. Consumer movement in India
• In the year 1958, the Indian Standards Institute had arranged a convention
at New Delhi. As per the resolution passed at the convention, the
Consumers Association of India was established in 1959.
In 1966, the Consumer Guidance Society of India was formed in Mumbai
with the object to protect consumers against rising prices of essential
commodities. In the same year Council for Fair Business Practices was
formed by leading industrialist like, J.R.D Tata and others.

21. Cont…
The Indian Consumer Union was established in 1971. The activities of the
union include offering legal advice, testing facilities, arranging lectures and
seminars. The Consumer Education and Research Centre were formed in
1978, at Ahemadad, to guide and protect Consumer Rights.
Consumer Co-operative Societies like Grahak Panchayat and Government
Employees Consumer Stores, etc, are also formed to protect consumers.
They make their purchases directly from producers and sell them at
reasonable price to members.
The growth of consumer movement in India is very slow due to several
reasons such as, illiteracy of Indian consumers, general attitudes of the
public, lack of active support from political parties and other members of
the society. Only in urban areas like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, etc, the
consumer movement is gaining some prominence. There is hardly any
consumer movement in rural areas.

24. Consumerism
• Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the
systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and
services in ever greater amounts.
• The term "consumerism" is also used to refer to the consumerist
movement, consumer protection or consumer activism, which seeks to
protect and inform consumers by requiring such practices as honest
packaging and advertising, product guarantees, and improved safety
standards. In this sense it is a movement or a set of policies aimed at
regulating the products, services, methods, and standards of
manufacturers, sellers, and advertisers in the interests of the buyer.

25. Cont…
Consumerism refers to a movement by consumers to
ensure fair and honest (ethical) practices on the part of
manufacturers, traders, dealers and services providers
in relation to consumers. The movement may be
regarded an attempt by individual consumer activists
and consumer associations for creating consumer
awareness about the malpractices in the market and
finding ways and means to protect their interests.

26. Benefits
• Consumerism make aware to the society
regarding rights and responsibilities of
consumers, consumers protection acts and
can regulate consumption in a proper way, can
control economy for the consumers' welfare.