CHAPTER: 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Global warming is a major concern all around and to save Mother Earth, there are several
policies, promises and pledges. With the ever increasing emission of greenhouse gases, there is
an increased fear of environment pollution at every step. With modern technology and
innovation, transportation and communication have undergone a paradigm shift. Along with this,
we are also experiencing the negative effects of industrialization in the form of global warming.
Under these circumstances, when there are traffic jams, when you need to run an errand at an odd
hour of the day, when you need to go to workplace quickly, you stumble and fumble as there are
so many vehicles emitting soot and CO2 polluting the air incessantly. With increased number of
fossil-fuel dependent vehicles, they not only add to greater level of pollution but are also leading
to depletion of fuel resource. It is here that automobile companies felt the need to innovate
motorized vehicle that will get charged through electricity and will not be depending on fossil
fuels.
This led to expansion of eco-friendly initiatives and many automobile manufacturing companies
invested in research and development to bring forth electric bikes that will help people save a
few bucks by reducing consumption of already spiraling fuel price, besides fighting global
warming. Most electric bikes are emission-free bikes and this is the USP of the companys
manufacturing them in these days of global warming. It will not add to urban pollution. The only
thing required is to keep this bike charged with a battery. Electric bike manufacturing is
considered as a grass root movement away from fossil fuels.
Definitely, electric bikes are not the only answer to our environment problem, but it definitely
will help us to treat environment better. These electric bikes will not make pollution worse and
that makes e bikes environmentally safe vehicle. It can be charged with the help of inverter and
generator too. In one charge, these electric bikes can go up to 50km and has no tail pipe

emissions. It also makes no noise while under operation. The best part of electric vehicles is that
they can be run with no registration and license.
In the manufacture and production of electric bikes, the main constraint is the battery in the
bumpy roads. Batteries get deteriorated at a fast rate due to excessive current fluctuation.
Batteries need frequent replacement and that is the greatest concern for the most Indian
companies who manufacture these electric bikes. The replacement cost of the batteries hover
around Rs. 5000, but otherwise the maintenance cost of electric bikes is almost negligible.
There is a growing market potential of electric bikes in India; however, speed might not be the
attractive feature of these e-bikes, they will cater you to run the short distances maybe home to
office or home to college; but these are safer vehicles with benefit of almost no pollution. So
instead of kicking a 100 cc motorbike, just press the start button of electric bike and vroom your
way friendly on the roads.
It is evident that electric bikes can reduce the air pollution. But there are also some
environmental problems caused due to these electric bikes. Disposal of worn out batteries can be
a cause of major concern for environmentalists. If this can be addressed, electric bikes can
definitely reduce environment pollution.
1.1(a) Features of Electric Bikes and Scooters
Electric bikes or scooters, light in weight, trendy, efficient and eco-friendly, are becoming potent
alternative to the conventional two-wheelers and the Electric two-wheeler industry in India is
developing at rapid speed.
Have a look at the unavoidable advantages of Electric Bikes and Scooters:

License and registration is not required for E Bikes and Scooters.

Electric two wheelers run on re-chargeable battery and uses electricity as fuel in place of

conventional Petrol/Diesel.
E Bikes and Scooters can beat the rising prices of Petrol/Diesel.
Simple design, light weight and economical Electric vehicles are very low in running and

maintenance cost.
With the ease of handling, Electric two wheelers saves the commuting time in congested
roads especially in urban areas.

Electric vehicles are more efficient in terms of generating usable energy from their
electric engine's battery in comparison to the regular fuel conversion. In this way E Bikes

and Scooters are innovative and efficient mode of personal transport.

Electric bikes or scooters use electricity therefore no emission of harmful gases like
Carbon dioxide (CO2) or Nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

Fig.1 The E-bike: opportunities for Commuter Traffic

1.1 (b) Major Components of an Electric Bike or Scooter

ELECTRIC HUB MOTOR to drive the rear wheel directly and there are two types of Electric
Hub Motor i.e. DC Brush Motor and DC Brush less motor having two basic parts namely
Permanent Magnet Stator and Wound Rotor.
ELECTRONIC MOTOR CONTROLLER is the central controlling unit of any Electric two
wheeler provides electric power to the motor based on inputs from the accelerator.
ELECTRONIC ACCELERATOR sends electronic signals to the Electronic Motor Controller
to man oeuvre the bike or scooter.
BATTERY PACK is like the fuel tank of E Bike or Scooter. There are different kinds of
batteries like Lead Acid, Nickel Metal Hydrate (Ni-MH), Lithium, etc. that are used for
supplying energy.
BATTERY CHARGER is used to charge the battery pack of E Bikes or Scooters, just like a
mobile phone or a laptop. Some battery chargers are in-built and some are separate that carried
always on the move. The charger converts an AC supply to DC to store power in the battery and
it can be used with any normal domestic AC plug point. This makes charging of battery pack
easy and convenient.

1.2 INDUSTRY PROFILE

The face of auto industry that was redefined with the invention of fuel-efficient four-stroke
engine technology is all set to see dawn of a new era in two-wheeler industry. It's not petrol or
diesel or any other fuel, but its electricity that have initiated a revolution in two-wheeler industry
in India.
Indian two-wheeler industry has embraced the new concept of Electric Bikes and Scooters that
are very popular mode of personal transport in the developed countries like America, Japan and
China. With the rising cost of fuel at International and national level, increasing levels of
pollution and congestion in transport system specially in Urban areas, higher running and
maintenance cost of vehicle, the electrically charged bikes or scooters have very bright future in
area of personal transportation.
It is estimated that Indias fossil fuel dependency on other countries currently from 70% to 82%
in 2012. If we can have three lakh Electric Vehicles on the roads by 2020, including three-

wheelers, cars, and scooters, this could result in a reduction of over 16 lakh metric tons of CO,
NOx and HC by 2020, savings of over Rs 3,700 crore in foreign exchange and significant health
costs savings
Economic conditions around the world have been very encouraging. Global growth is increasing
year by year .While the Chinese economy is growing at around 10% without any signs of slow
down, the Indian economy is also continuing to grow at more than 8%. In the coming years, and
Indian economy will be booming owing to the heavy demand on infrastructure. Energy sector is
growing by leaps and bounds as it is receiving the highest attention of both the State
Governments and Central Government.

Fig.3 Electric Two-Wheel Vehicle Sales by Country

India has moved from an agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy. The manufacturing
sector now contributes around one-fourth of the total GDP and the industrial output has now
crossed USD 65 Billion in value.Global steel production is continuing its growth. In spite of
some control measures adopted by Chinese Government the crude steel registered an impressive
growth and has crossed 450 million tons. India is also witnessing a huge growth in steel
production and it is expected that steel industry will continue to grow by more than 12% per
annum.
Sustainable economic growth of India as well as rest of the world will depend on effective
energy planning. Nearly 40% of the worlds energy comes from petroleum. Natural gas
contributes to another 20% and these two natural resources account for 60% of the worlds
energy. The growth in consumption of oil and natural gas in the past has been such that the
consumption has been doubling every 15 years. This trend is likely to continue and will lead to
complete depletion of natural resources in next 30 years. It is significant to note that more than
20% of the worlds total primary energy is consumed in transportation. There are more than 410
million cars currently in the world and in another 20 years the automobile population will reach
one billion mark. It is also significant to note that after 1970 the new oil discoveries have been
very few and any new discoveries will not make any significant contribution to the worlds
energy pool.
Economic and environmental forces are frequently pitted against each other and many a times
the financial cost of environmentally friendly technologies and goods is so high that one has to
strike a balance or look for Government subsidies. Our Electric Vehicles are unique in this aspect
as they are not only economical but also environment friendly.

1.3 ORIGIN AND HISTORY

Most People are not aware of how long electric bicycles have been around you might think its
something new since the recent fuel shortage and cost spikes we all hate, or even because of
Global Warming and the whole go green awareness. But not true although it might be one reason
for their recent surge in popularity also the technology has improved 10 fold.In the 1890s,
electric bicycles were documented within various U.S. patents. For example, on 31 December
1895 Ogden Bolton Jr. was granted U.S. Patent 552,271 for a battery-powered bicycle with 6-

pole brush-and-commutator direct current (DC) hub motor mounted in the rear wheel. There
were no gears and the motor could draw up to 100 amperes (A) from a 10-V battery.
Two years later, in 1897, Hosea W. Libbey of Boston invented an electric bicycle (U.S. Patent
596,272) that was propelled by a double electric motor. The motor was designed within the
hub of the crankshaft axle. This model was later re-invented and imitated in the late 1990s by
Giant Lafree electric bicycles.
By 1898 a rear wheel drive electric bicycle, which used a driving belt along the outside edge of
the wheel was patented by Mathew J. Steffens. Also, the 1899 U.S. Patent 627,066 by John
Schnepf depicted a rear wheel friction roller-wheel style drive electric bicycle.Schnepf's
invention was later re-examined and expanded in 1969 by G.A. Wood Jr. with his U.S. Patent
3,431,994. Woods device used 4 fractional horsepower motors; each rated less than
horsepower and connected through a series of gears.
Torque sensors and power controls were developed in the late 1990s. For example, Takada Yutky
of Japan filed a patent in 1997 for such a device. In 1992 Vector Services Limited offered and
sold an electric bicycle dubbed Zike. The bicycle included Nickel-cadmium batteries that were
built into a frame member and included an 850 g permanent-magnet motor. Despite the Zike, in
1992 hardly any commercial electric bicycles were available. It wasnt until 1998 when there
were at least 49 different bikes. Production grew from 1993 to 2004 by an estimated 35%. By
Contrast, according to Gardner, in 1995 regular bicycle production decreased from its peak 107
million units. Some of the less expensive electric bicycles used bulky lead acid batteries, whereas
newer models generally used NiMH, NiCd and/or Li-ion batteries which offered lighter, denser
capacity batteries. The end benefits usually varied from manufacturer; however, in general there
was an increase in range and speed. By 2004 electric bicycles where manufactured by Currie
Technologies, EV Global, Optibike, Giante Lite, Merida, ZAP.
Electric bicycles are very common in many cities of eastern China, such as Yangzhou; in some
areas they may outnumber motorcycles or regular bicycles
By 2001 the terms, E-Bikes, power bike, pedelec, assisted bicycle and power-assisted bicycle
where commonly used to describe electric bicycles. E-bike, according to Google, is a term that
has increased in trend. This term generally referred to an electric bicycle which used a throttle.

The terms Electric Motorbike or E-Motorbike have been used to describe more powerful models
which attain up to 80 km/h. PEDEGO Electric Bicycles are taking the nation by storm, offering a
stylish, and colourful electric bikes that use a throttle control for power.
In a parallel hybrid motorized bicycle, such as the aforementioned 1897 invention by Hosea W.
Libbey, human and motor inputs are mechanically coupled either in the bottom bracket, the rear
or the front wheel, whereas in a (mechanical) series hybrid cycle, the human and motor inputs
are coupled through differential gearing. In an (electronic) series hybrid cycle, human power is
converted into electricity and is fed directly into the motor and mostly additional electricity is
supplied from a battery.
Pedelec is a European term that generally referred to an electric bicycle that incorporated a
torque and/or a speed sensor and/or a power controller that delivered a proportionate level of
assist and only ran when the rider pedalled. On the opposite side, a Noped is a term used by the
Ministry of Transportation of Ontario for similar type vehicles which do not have pedals or in
which the pedals have been removed from their motorized bicycle. Finally, Assist Bicycle is the
technical term used to describe such a vehicle and Power-Assisted Bicycle is used in the
Canadian Federal Legislation, but is carefully defined to only apply to electric motor assist, and
specifically excludes internal combustion engines (though this is not the case in the United
States).
Today, China is the world's leading producer of electric bicycles. According to the data of the
China Bicycle Association, a government-chartered industry group, in 2004 China's
manufacturers sold 7.5 million electric bicycles nationwide, which was almost twice the year
2003 sales; domestic sales reached 10 million in 2005, and 16 to 18 million in 2006.[8] By 2007,
electric bicycles were thought to make up 10 to 20 percent of all two-wheeled vehicles on the
streets of many major cities. A typical unit requires 8 hours to charge the battery, which provides
the range of 2530 miles (4050 km),[8] at the speed of around 20 km/h.
A large number of such vehicles is exported from China as well (3 million units, worth 40 billion
yuan ($5.8 billion), in the year 2006 alone)
We are looking at practical and true figures of current Indian markets. Current year 2009-10 will
end up with Indian total e-bikes sales at 120K bikes. Every year market is expected to rise

initially by 100% and then by 200%. A lots of bikes we will see on the road in coming 5 years,
just like bicycles and petrol scooters. As people started accepting the technology and limitations
of e-bikes, a definite positive trends has started now. Due to collective efforts by manufacturers,
Ads, PRs, dealership networks hard work, people accepting e-bikes in a middle segment between
bicycle and petrol scooter. If you see both ends i.e. bicycles and petrol bikes are showing very
attractive sales figures. The middle segment of e-bikes has turned now to enter in the high
growth curve. Electric Bikes companies are highly optimistic about the e-bikes future. According
to a survey India may surpass china in numbers of e-bikes sale by 6-8 years.
Indian manufacturers of electric bikes, or e-bikes, are gearing up for what they call a second
wave of growth for these plug and ply bikes. They say they are on the verge of launching faster
versions of their bikes and this would blunt the edge of traditional two-wheeler bikes in the
country. Electric bikes operate on a chargeable battery and do not require petrol to operate.All
the e-bikes today do not require registration or license. This means they have to follow certain
statutory norms that specify that the speed of such two-wheelers should not be more than
25kmph.
Some of the e- bikes companies are now all set to launch a new e-bikethat would have an
engine of 750 watts, compared with 250 watt engines that existing e-bikes have. It would require
registration and license to ride and the average speed would be 35-40 kmph. This would help
explode the demand for e-bikes in India, says Avinash Bhandari, director of Ahmedabad-based
Electrotherm (India) Ltd one of the major Electric bikes manufacturers, He says The real game
would begin when we launch our high powered engine e-bike to compete with TVS Scooty Pep+
and Honda Activa. Citing the reason for the new models, Bhandari said that potential buyers
were apprehensive as they believed that a scooter has to look like a scooter and must carry more
weight at higher speeds. To a common user, performance and affordability is important. It does
not matter what fuel is being used or no fuel is being used, he added.
Ganesh Mahalingam, managing director of Ultra Motors Co., another entity that manufactures ebike in joint venture with Hero Electric of Hero Cycles group, says that they too are working on
a faster electric vehicle that would have a speed of about 50-70kmph. It would take us six more
months but remember that the electric bike market has come of age only in last six months as,
unlike in the west where e-bike is a lifestyle product and for some an environment friendly

technology, in India it is an economical mode of transportation. Primarily it is an aam admi

(common man) vehicle as it is 10 times cheaper to operate an electric two-wheeler that the
traditional petrol bike, Mahalingam said.
Hero Cycles Ltd, like Electrotherm, launched its range of Hero electric ultra-powered electric
two-wheelers in seven variants of e-bikes and e-scooters branded as Hero Electric and priced
between Rs14,300 and Rs19,000. The e-scooters are in the range of Rs22,000-28,000. With no
organized body to represent these manufacturers, industry players guess that there are between
75 and 80 players manufacturing e-bikes in India.
Still, key hurdles remain for the e-bike industry.One of the major issues is that many small
players are flooding the markets with a product that doesnt meet statutory requirements. They
are not supposed to have a speed of over 25kmph, but many do as they use a motor of higher
capacity. Some of them launch their vehicle and also give warranty but do not have adequate
dealer or service network. They also do not have spare parts. All this creates a very negative
image in the minds of people and can badly affect the growth of this industry in the medium and
long run, claims Bhandari.
Electric bike manufactures are hoping that the creation of a strong dealer network and service
support will help make a dent in the conventional two-wheeler market.

1.4 COMPANY PROFILE

Honda is the worlds largest manufacturer of two Wheelers , Recognized the world over as the
symbol of Honda two wheelers , the Wings arrived in India as Honda Motorcycle and Scooter
India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI ), a 100% subsidiary of Honda Motor Company Ltd., Japan ,in 1999.
Since its establishment in 1999 at Manesar, District Gurgaon, Haryana, Honda has lived up to its
reputation of offering the highest quality at the most reasonable price. Despite being one of the
youngest players in the Indian two-wheelers market, Honda has become the largest two wheeler
manufacturer as well as the second largest two-wheelers company in India.
Honda is also the fastest growing company in country today. With a host of facilities under its
wings, the first factory of HMSI is spread over 52 acres including a covered area of about
100,000 sq. meters in Manesar, District Gurgaon, Haryana with an annual capacity of 1.65
million units. To meet the ever increasing demands of the products, Honda has started operations

of its second plant in Tapukara, District Alwar, Rajasthan. Expanding to full operations , Honda
production capacity has jumped 30% year on year to 2.8 million per annum in FY 12- 13.

Fig.2Domestic Scooter Sales of various Company

To further expand and serve its customers faster, Honda has come up with its third plant at
Narsapura Industrial Area near Bengaluru, Karnataka .The plant is equipped to manufacture 1.2
million units in FY 13-14. Utilizing production technologies refined at Manesar & Tapukara
plants as starting point, the 3rd plant is employed with state-of-the-art manufacturing, automation
and environment friendly technologies to deliver quality products.
Motorcycles sold by HMSI include the Aviator, Activa, Dio, Unicorn, Shine, CBF125 Stunner,
CB Twister, Dream Yuga, CBR250R, CBR150R, Activa i, CB Shine, Dream NEO CB Trigger
and Honda CD110.

1.5 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

With increasing in air pollution in urban areas and scarcity of fuels Electric Bikes is in great
demand but it is not used by most of the people because of lack of awareness. Thus the purpose

of the study is to study the awareness level of consumers towards E-Bikes and also the
perception of the users. Thus by creating awareness we can enhance the sales of Electric Bikes.

1.6 OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

To find out the market potential of HMSL for E-Bikes

To find out the awareness of consumer about the electric bike in Surat City.
To find out the reason why consumer refers to electric bike.
To find out the factor influencing the sales of electric bike.
To study the post purchase experiences of electric bike consumer.

1.7 SCOPE OF STUDY

Only those company and consumer are mentioned in study which come under Surat city.
So, it can be said that scope of research is limited.
The study may help the firm to formulate their strategies and implement them according
to the situation.
The study will also help the firms to know about customer preference and their current
market position.
It will help the companies to know about various factor which affect consumers interest
while choosing bikes.
The study will help the firm to identify its strengths and drawbacks and to work on it
accordingly.

1.8 IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

Project report will help the owner to know their respective E-Bikes current position and
negative aspect of their servicescape and will help in improving it.
The project would also help customer to know which of the E-Bike is worthwhile to
spend upon.
The report will be helpful for mentioned firm to analyze their strength and weak point.
Its help know the customer current preference for E-Bikes.
This study will also be important for the upcoming E-Bike company in Surat city so that
they can formulate their strategies accordingly.

1.9 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Any research or study always has some limitations under which this has to be undertaken. This
one too was not an exception. These limitations are poised by the environment some external and
some inherent. This study has been conducted with utmost consideration to the adequacy of data
and quality of information, though as mention earlier the reliance on the sources cannot be
minimized to zero in context of precision. The limitation can be enlisted as hereunder:

The perception level of the respondents.

Availability of documents as sources of secondary information.
Reliability of information collected from various public information sources such as

magazines and website.

Respondents are not willing to fill the questionnaire.
Sometimes the respondents are not available at their place.
Very often the respondent do not express their true feelings, in such case their habit,

preference, practice, cannot be assessed correctly.

Some of the respondents refuse to give the important information best known to them.

However in spite of these limitations all efforts have been put to make the report correct,
genuine, and fulfilling the objectives of the reports.

CHAPTER: 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

Jacob and Jolly found that study on the consumers attitude towards the green lifecycle and
discussed about the concept of green marketing and looks in to various ways in which the
different consumers attributes are related to the concept of green marketing and concluded that
the attitude towards eco products changed, consumers are taking interest in ecofriendly products
(Jacob Cherian, Jolly Jacob, 2012).
Studied about some interesting features about e-bikes that give strong prospects to buyers as well
as highlights the future market of e-bikes also the unique features like (fuel consumption, carbon
emission and ease of use) there is a potential of e-bikes in comparison to other two wheelers run
by petrol in future (Mrinal Kranti Das, Swati Pal, 2011).
Studied the transportation management and the state of automobile industry and in China. The
researcher focuses on the response of automobile industry to challenges like dynamics and
barriers resulting from technological change, economic development and environmental and
concluded that Industry is welcoming the green products and there is huge potential for the
electric vehicles in the devolving as well as developed countries ( Gan, 2003) .
Weinhart et al. studies show that e-bikes are used by a variety of individuals to bike further
distances and to overcome barriers to biking, such as trip length, cargo weight or physical
limitations.In China Shijiazhuang study show that e-bike users where evenly split between male
and female and 73% where between 24 and 40 years old .The Australian and North American
users tend to be older and male (Weinhart et al., 2006)
Many cities cite safety concerns when developing electric bike policy. Safety is one of the main
reasons that Guangzhou recently imposed a ban on electric bikes. If electric bike users all shifted
to automobiles, perhaps the overall transportation fatality rate would be worse. In 1998, large and
small motor vehicles were the cause of 90% of Shanghais 24,000 accidents (Zacharias 2002).
Adrian study show that newspaper, various articles, reviews played vital role in purchase of ebike because it gives useful informant for the world most critical problem is pollution so e-bike
plays important role to reduce the pollution because it is drive by battery not the fossil fuel
( Adrian,2009).

Jarfiya said that consumer buying behavior in automobile industry is highly influenced by brand
awareness (Jarfiya et al.,2009)
Lieven et al. did a stated preference study in Germany, finding that price and range were most
important features of all types of bikes. Range was more important if the vehicle was the first
bike. They also found a potential of EV buyers of 6 percent for the second bike as opposed to 4.2
percent for first (Lieven et al., 2011).
In a study of expectations and satisfaction relating to the use of EVs, Mathisen et al. found that
satisfying aspects of the EV were that it was environmentally friendly, easy to park, low on
noise, had a good reputation, and was economical. Dissatisfaction with EVs was related to
battery charging, service, traffic safety, heating and functionality in the winter season (Mathisen
et al,2010).
In a study of the three largest cities in Norway (with a sample of EV owners and a random
sample), Rdseth found that the three most important factors behind buying an EV given by EV
owners were: the possibility of using the bus lanes, it was environmentally friendly and operating
costs were lower (Rdseth ,2009).

GAP

CHAPTER: 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The system of collecting data for research projects known as Research methodology. The data
may be collected for either theoretical or practical research for example management research
may be strategically conceptualized along with operational planning methods and change
management. Some important factors in research methodology include validity data, Ethics and
the reliability of measures most of your work is finished by the time you finish the analysis of
your data.
Formulating of research questions along with sampling weather probable or non probable is
followed by measurement that include surveys and scaling. This is followed by research design,
which may be either experimental or quasi-experimental. The last two stages are data analysis
and finally writing the research paper, which is organized carefully into graphs and tables so that
only important relevant data is shown.
The success of any event heavily depends upon the way chosen for its execution. This includes
ensures of some basic question to the specific focus on constraints as well. In other words they
can call the methodology as the backbone of any research. It also includes research or study
method. Thus when they talk of methodology they not only talk of methodology they not talk of
methods but also consider the logic behind the methods they use in the context of their study
objective and explain way use are using them so that study results are capable of being evaluated
logically.

3.1 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose is to study the perception of buyer and user towards Electric-bike in Surat City.

3.2 NATURE
The methodology adopted to achieve the project objective involved descriptive research method.
The information required for fulfilling the objective of study was collected from various primary
and secondary sources.

3.3TYPE OF RESEARCH

This study is DESCRIPTIVE in nature. It helps in breaking vague problem into smaller and
precise problem and emphasizes on discovering of new ideas and insights.

3.4 RESEARCH DESIGN

Research design constitutes the blue print for the collection, measurement and analysis of data.
The present study seeks to identify the extent of preferences of E-Bike over traditional bikes. The
research design is descriptive in nature. The research has been conducted on consumers of EBikes and conventional bikes within Surat. For the selection of the sample, random sampling
method was adopted and an attempt has been made to include all the agegroups and gender of
every class.

3.5 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

The instrument used for gathering data was questionnaire. To get further insight in to the
research problem, interview regarding their buying practices too was made. This was done to
crosscheck the authenticity of the data provided. To supplement the primary data and to facilitate
the process of drawing inference, secondary data was collected from published sources like
magazines, journals, newspapers etc.

3.6 POPULATION
Population refers to the total of items about which information is desire. The attributes that are
the object of study are referred to as characteristics and the units possessing them are called as
elementary units. The aggregate of such units is generally described as population. Thus, all the
units in any field of inquiry constitute universe and all elementary units constitute population.
The population can be finite and in finite the population is said to be finite if it is consist of a
fixed number of elements so that it is possible to enumerate it in its totality. An infinite
population is which it is theoretically impossible to observe all the elements.
The population is specific group of people, firms, conditions, activities etc. which forms the
pivotal of research for developing and using a sample, it become primary duty of a researcher to
define the population from which to draw the sample.

Population:To achieve the objectives the city of Surat was selected.

3.7 SAMPLE
The sample is the representative unit of population. The researcher has taken the consumer as
sample for this research. Since in this research the researcher has collected the sample according
to his own convenience. So the sample is stratified proportionate sample and the sample size of
the research is 300.
This refers to number of items to be selected from the universe to constitute a sample. The size of
the sample should neither be excessively large, nor too small. It should be optimum. An optimum
sample size is one, which fulfills the requirement of efficiency, representativeness, reliability,
and flexibility.

3.8 SAMPLING METHOD

In this research the Random Sampling Method has been used. In this method the subset
of individuals (a sample) chosen from a larger set (a population). Each individual is
chosen randomly and entirely by chance, such that each individual has the same probability of
being chosen at any stage during the sampling process, and each subset of k individuals has the
same probability of being chosen for the sample as any other subset of k individuals. It is an
unbiased surveying technique.

3.9 SAMPLE PLAN

Sampling unit

: Users of two wheelers in Surat City

Sampling size

: 300

Sampling technique : Random sampling

Research Time

: 1 Month

Project cost

: Approx. Rs.50, 000

3.10 DATA COLLECTION

The task of data collection begins after a research problem has defined. Researcher should keep
in mind two types of data, primary data and secondary data.
The primary data are those, which are collected afresh and for the first time, and thus happen to
be original in character.

The secondary data, on the other hand, are those which have already been collected by someone
else and which have already been passed through the statistical process.
Both, primary data and secondary data were used in accomplishment of objective of the research.
Method of collection are:
1. Personal interview method.
2. Questionnaire method.
Personal Interview Method
Here face to face interaction takes place and are orally interviewed. Here this method plays a
very important role, because the respondents are very much involved with their busy schedules,
thus this is the very easiest and earliest way to get the questionnaire completed.
Questionnaire
The term questionnaire refers to a self-administered process whereby the respondent
himself/herself reads the questions and records his/her answers without assistance of an
interviewer. Although the instrument is essentially question asking and data gathering tool. A
questionnaire is more structured and standardized. The questionnaire consists of a number of
questions printed or typed in a definite order on a form or a set of forms. This method of data
collection is quite popular in case of big enquiries.A questionnaire is used for the collection of
data. And it consists of close ended questions.

3.11 TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES OF ANALYSIS

The data so collected will be analyzed through the application of statistical
techniques, such as bar graphs and pie charts.
Data formulation:
Data Analysis tools: