ITC Ltd., the biggest cigarette manufacturer in Asia, is on track to overtake Hindustan Unilever Ltd. as the most valuable FMCG stock in India. After displacing Hindustan Unilever Ltd. from the top rank, India’s largest cigarette manufacturer ITC Ltd. is poised to restore its status as the country’s most valuable fast-moving consumer goods company.
In intraday trade on Friday, the cigarette to hotel giant ITC Ltd briefly overcame Hindustan Unilever Ltd’s market capitalization to become the most valuable business in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector.
ITC’s market capitalization increased to Rs 6.15 lakh crore on Friday, exceeding Hindustan Unilever’s valuation for the day.
ITC, which primarily generates revenue from the sale of cigarettes but also has stakes in the hotel, paper, and consumer staples industries, saw its worth surpass 6.09 trillion rupees ($74 billion) on a day-to-day basis for the first time ever on Monday. The tobacco manufacturer outperformed all other Nifty 50 equities in the past year thanks to a rally of more than 70%.
Due to the profits expectation, investors prefer ITC over Hindustan Unilever. ITC’s broad business activities helped improve its earnings per share by roughly 30% in the year ended March, whereas HUL continues to struggle with anemic post-pandemic rebound in rural Indian sales.
ITC would undoubtedly beat HUL in the near future, according to Sachin Bobade, vice president of Dolat Capital Market Ltd.’s consumer sector. “ITC still has some juice left, primarily because its cigarette business faces few significant challenges.”
ITC has exceeded the landmark market capitalization of 6 lakh crore, making it the sixth listed business in India to do so. Nevertheless, it continues to rank behind HUL as the second-largest FMCG company.
