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ITC ups prices of 3 brands

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BS Reporter Kolkata
Last Updated : Jan 19 2013 | 10:28 PM IST

A pack of the premium brand Classic was re-priced at Rs 88 from Rs 80 earlier while a pack of the mid-market Gold Flake brand was now priced at Rs 40 against Rs 38 earlier.

The economy brand Silk Cut had also been revised upwards marginally from Rs 20 now, retailers added.

ITC on its part confirmed, "Prices have been revised in select brands", but refused all further comment.

The company, releasing its results on May 23, had warned of cost pressure and the sharp increase in taxes in the financial year 2007-08.

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The three brands covered were the company's major cigarette brands, and only the Wills brand priced at Rs 34 now was out of the purview of this exercise.

The three brands would push up cigarette division gross margins by 1 per cent or a little more, they indicated.

Retailers said they would continue to sell at the price printed at packets so packets received earlier and still held in stocks would be sold at old prices.

ITC said its cigarettes business saw increase of about 30 per cent in the incidence of taxation on cigarettes owing to 6 per cent increase in excise duty and imposition of VAT @ 12.5 per cent ad-valorem.

ITC claimed its cigarette manufacturing facilities achieved record levels of productivity but warned that the discriminatory taxation regime on cigarettes within the overall tobacco industry as well as extremely high rates of excise duties coupled with VAT was driving consumption of tobacco to lightly taxed products like bidis, guthka, chewing tobacco and zarda and assisting the growth of contraband trade and cigarettes produced by clandestine domestic players.

ITC claimed that consequent to the 30 per cent equivalent increase in tax rates on cigarettes during the year, the volume of these illegal cigarettes has doubled from around 150 million per month to nearly 300 million per month.

More importantly, it warned non-filter cigarettes had become unviable and this market was being captured by smuggled and tax evaded cigarettes, a situation which could be rectified only through moderation of taxes on tobacco, minimisation of discriminatory taxes between different classes of tobacco products and a regulatory framework.

ITC brand retailers here said that thet expected supplies of non-filter sigarettes to decline if not stop altogether once existing inventories were liquidated because minor brands, some of them smuggled, were undercutting them.

ITC Ltd posted a 16 per cent rise in gross income at Rs 6009 crore in the fourth quarter (Q4) of fiscal 2007-08 (against Rs 5279 crore in Q4 of fiscal 2006-07) with post-tax profit up 14 per cent at Rs. 736 crore (from Rs 650 crore) after adjusting for income tax refunds.

For the full year 2007-08, ITC gross turnover rose to Rs.21966 crore (from Rs 19636 crore in 2006-07) while profit before tax rose to Rs 4571 crore (from Rs 3926 crore) and profit after tax for 2007-08 to Rs 3120 crore (from Rs 2699 crore).

Cigarettes, reeling under a higher taxation regime, reported Q4 net sales of Rs 3583 crore (Rs3294 crore in Q4 of 2006-07) with segment gross profit at Rs 870 crore for Q4 (against Rs 741 crore).

For the full year 2007-08, gross sales from the cigarettes business was Rs13825 crore (from Rs 12833 crore in 2006-07) while the segment gross profit from the cigarettes business was Rs 3634 crore (from Rs 3172 crore in 2006-07).

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First Published: May 28 2008 | 7:11 PM IST

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