ITC, the Kolkata-based tobacco-to-hotels major, is extending its flagship foods brand, Aashirwaad, to spices and rice. The move will reduce its reliance on the cigarettes business.
"The 33 per cent extra scheme by Frito-Lay's on Lay's and Kurkure got good trader and consumer response. In the next four-six weeks, a similar scheme will be offered by ITC," market sources said. ITC has been able to capture 7 per cent of the chips and snacks sector in 2007 within a year of its launch. "It has already made a dent in Frito-Lay India's share," according to a Euromonitor International study on sweet and savoury snacks in India.
Diversified business group ITC on Friday announced the issue of bonus shares against each share of the company, the seventh time in the last 32 years, as part of its centenary celebrations.
ITC Limited is setting up a 25,000-tonne per annum capacity facility at a cost of Rs 35 crore at its Bollaram unit in Hyderabad for production of elemental chlorine-free (ECF) paperboards to be used for manufacture of paper cups.
Among the Sensex firms, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Asian Paints, Wipro, State Bank of India and Larsen & Toubro were the major gainers. ICICI Bank, NTPC, Axis Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the laggards.
From the Sensex pack, Larsen & Toubro, JSW Steel, IndusInd Bank, Power Grid, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, HDFC Bank, ITC, Reliance Industries and Tata Motors were among the major laggards. Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank were among the gainers.
The "additional remuneration" includes monthly pay of Rs 1 crore, rent free furnished accommodation, medical expenses for him and spouse along with use of chauffeur driven company car for personal use and coverage under personal accident insurance. He will also be entitled to commission between Rs 30-60 lakh as sitting fees for attending meetings of board and committees of the company for each financial year.
ITC on Wednesday said it would set up new small format stores in rural areas on the lines of existing hypermarket chain - Choupal Sagar - by early next year, even as it plans to ramp up its retail operations.
We can be cash positive in no time, the day we decide to slow down investments
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Shares of cigarette companies such as Godfrey Phillips and ITC surged as much as 10.4 per cent on Thursday.
The cigarettes segment had a revenue of Rs 4,554.21 crore during the second quarter of the current fiscal, as against Rs 8,528.47 crore in the year-ago period, down 46.56 per cent.
Mahindra & Mahindra on Friday said it has been imposed a penalty of Rs 4.12 crore over input tax credit claim and education cess credit balance carry forward from pre-GST regime to GST regime in relation to its two-wheeler business. In a regulatory filing, Mahindra & Mahindra said it has received an order from the office of the Deputy Commissioner, State Tax, Audit Wing, Indore-01, Madhya Pradesh imposing a penalty amounting to Rs 4,11,50,120 to the two-wheeler business of Mahindra Two Wheelers Ltd (MTWL), which was demerged from MTWL and has since been merged with the company.
During the quarter, revenue from cigarettes increased 10.17 per cent to Rs 4,639.17 crore.
ITC's investment arm Russell Credit has raised its stake in Hotel Leelaventure to 7.37 per cent --an increase of 2.26 percentage points. The promoters of Mumbai-based Leela group, meanwhile, said they were not interested in tying the knot with ITC as a strategic partner in the growing hotels business.
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies anticipate sustained volume pressures in the January-March quarter (Q4) coupled with sluggish rural growth during the period. Brokerages estimate top-line growth to be in low single digits in the quarter. Also, the late onset of winter had an impact on demand for winter products which range from moisturisers to hot beverages.
According to BSE, Bharti Airtel's revenue (on a standalone basis, excluding that from foreign operations and their subsidiaries) stood at Rs 49,919 crore (Rs 499.19 billion).
In the Sensex pack, HCLTech rose the maximum by 3.12 per cent, followed by ITC which gained 2.73 per cent and M&M went up 2.61 per cent. TCS climbed 2.44 per cent. Tech Mahindra, Wipro, L&T and Maruti were among the other major gainers.
ITC operates only in the sugar confectionery arena, which limits its size of business.
The company had posted a net profit of Rs 2,166 crore (Rs 21.66 billion) during the April-June quarter a year ago.
Six years after the rollout of the biggest indirect tax reform in India, Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue of Rs 1.5 lakh crore every month has become a new normal and tax officers are focusing on dealing with fraudsters who are adopting newer modus operandi to game the system, causing loss to the exchequer. To apprehend black sheep, who operate as syndicates and create fake entities on the basis of forged documents to claim input tax credit (ITC), tax officers have started using data analytics, artifical intelligence and machine learning aiming to curb evasion, which was over Rs 3 lakh crore since inception of GST. It was over Rs 1 lakh crore in 2022-23. Thinktank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said the most critical pending GST reform is upgradation of GST Network to prevent fake supplies and fraudulent claims of Input Tax Credit (ITC).
Tobacco giant ITC Ltd on Friday won a big relief in the Supreme Court which set aside a demand of Rs 803 crore (Rs 8.03 billion) slapped on the cigarette manufacturers by the government on account of alleged evasion of excise duty.
Operating margins have been the primary driver of corporate earnings in India in recent quarters, despite revenue growth suffering from weak consumer demand. Companies across sectors have reported a sharp improvement in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) margins over the past two years, benefiting from lower commodity and energy prices. Higher margins more than compensated for slower revenue growth, resulting in double-digit growth in net profit for five consecutive quarters.
While stating that raw material costs are under control at present, the company said value added tax on food items is a cause of concern.
The stock was the worst hit among Sensex and Nifty components.
Multi-business conglomerate ITC Limited has embarked upon an initiative aimed at ensuring remunerative prices to tribals and at the same time sourcing organically produced mangoes for its discerning customers spread across various countries, particularly in Europe and the US.
Cigarettes to hotel major ITC entered the consumer products business in 2007. In three years, it has managed to corner a two per cent market share.
The feeling was that the higher levy would prompt the company to increase prices in the process hurting volumes. But the unchanged central excise duty, analysts say, outweighs the VAT increases in Maharashtra and Delhi. As a result, estimates for the current year have been upped with expectations that the company could grow its top line by as much as 13-14 per cent driven by a 6-7 per cent rise in volumes.
Among the Sensex firms, Asian Paints, Titan, Larsen & Toubro, JSW Steel, ITC, Hindustan Unilever, Maruti and Reliance Industries were the major gainers. ICICI Bank, NTPC, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel and Bajaj Finance were among the laggards.
ITC Limited is planning to aggressively scale up its FMCG business and expand the portfolio by staging an entry into the home and personal care market, in an attempt to be the leading FMCG player in the country.
Betting big on its rural initiative e-choupal, ITC hopes the business to generate revenues of $2.5 billion - almost equivalent to the current size of the company - by 2010 as it looks to expand to newer states.
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