Consumer Awareness and Perception Towards Goods and Service Tax Implementation in India : A Study in National Capital Region

The much-hyped tax structure, Goods and Service Tax (GST) was recently introduced. The Government of India took the decision to implement GST on July 1, 2017. This affects every citizen and raises various concerns amongst consumers towards GST implementation. The present paper aims to examine the level of consumer awareness and the perception they have towards GST implementation in India. Additionally, the study attempts to suggest some measures to the government for effective GST implementation. Questionnaire method has been used for primary data collection. The consumers of National Capital Region (NCR) region are the sample audience. The level of awareness for GST implementation has been examined based on Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, descriptive analysis and Spearman's correlation. The perception towards its acceptance is examined based on descriptive analysis. The findings reveal that demographic factors are not significantly correlated to the level of awareness. Consumers have a high level of basic awareness. Promotional activities are not insufficient, but awareness programs should be increased which is moderately accepted. Overall, the implementation of GST is highly accepted by the consumers