Indian conglomerate ITC reported an 18.5% drop in consolidated profit to ₹4,229.33 crore for its second quarter ended Sept. 30, as cigarette results weakened despite growth elsewhere.
Revenue from operations reached ₹30,578.40 crore, up from ₹21,255.86 crore a year earlier. ITC's presentation put net revenue at ₹20,454 crore, a 5.1% increase. The filing says gross revenue includes excise duty but excludes goods and services tax (GST) and the GST compensation cess. India raised GST and central excise duty on cigarettes effective Feb. 1, after the compensation cess expired.
FMCG-Others revenue grew 19% to ₹7,218.36 crore, and the segment result rose 31% to ₹576.69 crore. ITC said the comparison with the prior year is affected by Sproutlife's inclusion in the segment from April 1; the presentation showed like-for-like revenue growth of 17.3%. Agri business revenue was ₹4,550.60 crore. Paperboards, Paper & Packaging revenue reached ₹3,017.45 crore, including Century Pulp and Paper from Aug. 1, which limits the year-over-year comparison.
The cigarette segment result fell to ₹4,044.49 crore from ₹5,462.10 crore, a decline of about 26%, according to the filing. ITC's presentation separately showed cigarette net revenue down 21%. The company linked continued weakness in legal cigarette volumes to the tax increase. ITC said its pricing adjustments aimed to reduce the risk of a disproportionate move into illicit trade. It also pointed to more seizures of smuggled cigarettes by enforcement agencies.
NDTV Profit reported that Motilal Oswal retained a Neutral rating and a ₹285 sum-of-the-parts target price for ITC, implying 17 times estimated September 2028 earnings per share. The outlet also said the brokerage expected cigarette revenue and earnings before interest and taxes to remain volatile in the near term because ITC had not passed the full tax increase on to consumers.
The company's separate standalone figures are covered in EconoTimes' earlier ITC Q2 report.
