Tobacco makers slip on excise duty increase

Shares in tobacco makers slipped after FM proposed to increase the excise duty on cigarettes by 5 per cent in the budget.

Shares in Indian tobacco makers slipped on Tuesday after the finance minister proposed to increase the excise duty on cigarettes by 5 per cent in the budget for the year to March 2007.

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Shares in the country's biggest tobacco maker, ITC Ltd -- which sells two out of every three cigarettes sold in India -- fell 1.4 per cent to Rs 163.70 and shares in Godfrey Phillips Ltd dropped 2.5 per cent to Rs 1,365.10.

Shares in GTC Industries Ltd lost 3.6 per cent to Rs 169.50 by 0705 GMT.

The benchmark BSE index was up 0.05 percent at 10,287.49 points.