ITC hits lifetime high; surpasses HDFC Bank in m-cap ranking

ITC has moved higher to its lifetime high of Rs 280, up 4% in early morning trade, extending its previous days nearly 5% rally on the BSE, after a lower than expected hike in excise duty on cigarettes in Budget.

In his budget speech, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday proposed to hike excise duty on various lengths of cigarettes between 2.5% to 6% against expectation of 8-10%.

Excise duty for cigarettes hiked between 2.5%-6% is positive for ITC, VST Industries and Godfrey Philips as hike is less than expected, said Jaspreet Singh Arora, Head of Research- Institutional Equity, Systematix Shares & Stocks (I).

Meanwhile, ITC, the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) giant has surpasses the HDFC Bank, the country’s largest private-sector lender in overall market capitalization (m-cap) ranking.

At 09.39 am; ITC with an m-cap of Rs 337,045 crore was ahead of the HDFC Bank which having m-cap of Rs 331,272 crore, the BSE data shows.

ITC is now at third position in overall m-ranking, just behind the Reliance Industries' m-cap of Rs 338,460 crore. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is at number one rank with m-cap of Rs 426,204 crore, the data shows.

ITC Limited