Indian tobacco stocks fall as India imposes new excise duty on cigarettes

ITC

01/01/2026 03:55

Jan 1 (Reuters) - Shares of Indian tobacco companies fell on Thursday after the government imposed a new excise duty on cigarettes, making them costlier for an estimated 100 million smokers in the world's most populous country.

ITC ITC.NS, maker of Gold Flake and the market leader, dropped 2%, while Godfrey Phillips India GDFR.NS, the distributor of Marlboro in India, declined 4.1%.

ITC was the biggest loser on the Nifty 50 index .NSEI and also led declines on the FMCG index .NIFTYFMCG, which was trading 0.6% lower.

The finance ministry late on Wednesday notified an excise duty of 2,050–8,500 rupees ($22.82–$94.60) per 1,000 sticks, depending on cigarette length, effective February 1.

($1 = 89.8510 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

 ((Kashish.Tandon@thomsonreuters.com; 8800437922;))