Exploratory study on factors influencing the buying behavior of organic food consumers in the Mumbai region

Abstract

Organic foods are those foods which are produced without the use of conventional systems of using fertilizers, harmful pesticides or any other synthetic methods. Even though the organic food market is growing rapidly in India, due to health and environmental concerns it is still considered to be at its infancy level compared to the overall food market. According to the IBEF report the Indian food and retail industry was estimated to be at USD 482 billion by the year 2020 (IBEF, 2017). Despite growing awareness, the benefits of the organic food market are astonishingly still meagre at USD 820 million (Desai, 2021) compared to the overall food market. This paper explores the factors influencing the buying behavior of Indian consumers of organic food with special reference to the Mumbai region. It also provides recommendations to mitigate the adverse impacts of these factors to accelerate the growth of the organic food market.