Now cigarettes will burn a hole in your pocket as FMCG major ITC has hiked its cigarette prices days after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget announcement to raise excise duty on tobacco and cigarettes. Market leader ITC increased cigarette prices by 10-20 per cent across some of its brands in all of its markets, following the hike in the National Calamity Contingency Duty (NCCD) announced in the Union Budget this year.
A rise in NCCD escalates taxes on cigarettes. Manufacturers have the option to either pass it on the consumer or absorb it.
"Prices of a number of brands have been revised," an ITC spokesperson said, adding revision has occurred across different bands for different sizes of cigarettes.
This is the first hike in cigarettes after the Budget.
According to Business Standard sources, the American Club Cool Fresh Taste saw the minimum hike of 10 per cent, from Rs 200 to Rs 220 for a pack of 20 cigarettes, the price of Navy Cut Filter rose by about 16 per cent, at Rs 80 for a pack of 10 sticks. Flake Filter has become costlier by 14 per cent at Rs 80, while prices of Flake Special Filter, Flake Blue Special Filter and Wave Cool Mint rose by 20 per cent.
Other brands that suffered a price rise were Gold Flake Super Star and Duke Special Filter.
The hike this time exceeded the previously anticipated surge of 7-10 per cent which sector analysts were expecting after NCCD was revised.
Price hikes will come into immediate effect; and across all markets, reports say.
After its third-quarter results, ITC said that while the company continues to augment its product portfolio, “extremely stringent regulations along with a punitive and discriminatory taxation regime on cigarettes in recent years have had numerous negative, albeit unintended repercussions”.
During the nine months ended December 31, 2019, ITC posted a 6.31 per cent rise in its income from cigarettes, at Rs 17,928.69 crore, while profit from cigarette sales rose by 7.59 per cent to Rs 12,188.58 crore.
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