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EconomyCompanies

ITC's quarterly profit falls 18% to ₹4,229 crore as costs jump after cigarette duty rise

The cigarettes-to-hotels group said revenue rose 44% in the September quarter, inflated by the excise duty increase of February, while expenses grew faster still.

From the editorial desk · KolkataPublished
An ITC office building in Bengaluru (file photo)
An ITC office building in Bengaluru (file photo)Photo: PageImp / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Key points

  1. ITC's consolidated profit fell 18.45% to ₹4,229.33 crore.
  2. Revenue from operations rose 43.85% to ₹30,578.4 crore, with the cigarette excise hike limiting comparison.
  3. FMCG revenue grew in double digits for a fourth straight quarter.

ITC on Monday evening reported an 18.45% fall in September-quarter profit to ₹4,229.33 crore, as a jump in costs swallowed a steep rise in revenue at India’s largest cigarette maker.

Consolidated revenue from operations rose 43.85% from a year earlier to ₹30,578.4 crore, against ₹21,255.86 crore. Expenses grew faster, by 69.6% to ₹25,462.44 crore, and profit came in below the ₹5,186.55 crore of the same quarter last year.

The headline revenue figure is swollen by tax. ITC said its numbers were affected by the excise duty hike on cigarettes effective February 2026, “limiting direct year-on-year comparability”. On a standalone basis, profit was ₹4,137.12 crore, against ₹5,175.70 crore, on revenue of ₹28,317.67 crore. That was ahead of the roughly ₹3,926 crore that YES Securities had pencilled in for the standalone business.

Cigarettes and the rest

Cigarettes brought in ₹15,536.13 crore of standalone revenue, and the FMCG-Others segment, home to Aashirvaad flour, Sunfeast biscuits and Bingo snacks, added ₹6,967.17 crore. ITC said FMCG revenue grew in double digits for a fourth straight quarter, and the segment’s EBITDA margin widened by 50 basis points despite rising input costs.

The company reported “robust growth across all Non-Cigarette Business segments”. It pointed to “strong recovery momentum” in paper, and said the agri business held up despite trade disruptions linked to the conflict in West Asia.

ITC described the quarter as one of “heightened uncertainty amidst renewed geopolitical tensions and trade disruptions”. “Crude oil and crude-linked input prices remained elevated, while supply chain disruptions and higher freight costs persisted,” it said.

The results came after the close. ITC shares had ended at ₹266 on the BSE, up 0.15%, and will trade on the numbers on Tuesday.