ITC shares finish Budget day in the green for the sixth time in a row

ITC shares ended a volatile session in the green on Wednesday, February 1, briefly sinking deep into the red after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced higher taxes on cigarettes in her Budget 2023 speech. Catch LIVE Budget 2023 updates here

Historically, the ITC stock is known to stage bigger moves on the Budget day in anticipation of tax changes for a segment that only forms a part of its business.

The stock of cigarettes-to-hotels conglomerate ITC finished the day stronger by Rs 9.2 or 2.6 per cent to Rs 361.5 apiece on BSE, a sixth back-to-back year of rise on the Budget day.  
ITC investors grew richer by Rs 11,421 crore in a day with the rise on February 1, 2023, according to exchange data. 

The stock moved within a Rs 329-Rs 365 range during the day.

Zee Business Managing Editor Anil Singhvi said the finance minister presented a wholesome Union Budget for the coming financial year, which begins in April 2023. 

The Budget 2023 proposes to raise the National Calamity Contingent Duty (NCCD) on specified cigarettes — or taxes on cigarettes — by about 16 per cent, the first increase since the Union Budget 2020.

ITC shares finished the day as the top Sensex gainer. 

ITC shares: A glance at the past

In 2022, ITC shares rose 4.5 per cent on Budget Day, and eight per cent the previous year. In the COVID year, the ITC stock finished the session with a gain of almost 11 per cent — its best Budget day performance in the past six years.

In 2019, ITC shares gained 8.4 per cent on the Budget day, and two per cent the previous year.

ITC shares have grown more than 56 per cent in value between Budget 2022 and Budget 2023, a period in which the Nifty50 benchmark has declined 1 per cent. In the month prior to the presentation of Budget 2023 in Parliament, the stock rose almost nine per cent. 

ITC is scheduled to report its financial results for the October-December period on February 3.