Our team conducted a small survey regarding various major cost heads in households and

what was the effect of COVID in the preference habit of the respondents. The sample size is
of 24 people who are diversified in age, gender, annual income and income source.

Our target sample are households because they are the main sector for the consumption of an
economy. The roles and importance of households for building an economy are immense.
Some of the performances of household are described below: 1) Act as a Producer: There are
several families in India who are the owners of several small production units. These
households act as entrepreneurs or producers of different goods and services. They form the
enterprises which are basically semi-corporate in nature. That is why our survey also looks at
the source of income of the respondents as in whether they are salaried or they own business
that affects their preference for different cost heads. They also act as consumers. The
households are the final consumers of goods and services produced by the firms. They create
demand in the market and according to their tastes and preferences. The firms produced and
supplied goods in the market, as per their demand. Therefore, households determine the
production line of a country.

They are also major tax payers in the economy so studying the preferences of households pre-
covid and during-covid is also important. A household pays income tax, wealth tax, estate
duty, gift tax, etc., as direct taxes to the state. Similarly, a household pays several indirect
taxes to the government like sales tax, customs duty, VAT, etc. All these tax revenues are
collected for the welfare and development of the economy.

One of the most important habits of us Indians that helps the government to tackle any major
economic fluctuation is our habit of saving a large chunk of our income. Thus, we have also
included the savings habit of respondents in our research. The portion of their income left
after the consumption, is saved in the banks or financial institutions. These savings are
considered as one of the main sources of capital formation in India.