ITC Gold Flake Premium cigarettes get costlier: New prices to burn a hole in your pocket as pack of 10 rises to ₹135
ITC Ltd. has raised the maximum retail price of its Gold Flake Premium cigarettes by ₹10, adding to the cost burden for consumers, reported NDTV Profit.
A 10-cigarette pack of the regular-size variant will now be priced at ₹135, compared with ₹125 previously. This is the company's second price revision for the brand in 2026, amid rising tax costs and challenges facing the organised cigarette market.
Citing channel checks, the report mentioned that the price of Gold Flake Premium regular-size filter-tipped (RSFT) cigarettes, which measure 60-70 mm, has been revised upwards by nearly 8%. Cigarette stocks carrying the new MRP are likely to begin reaching warehouses in the fourth week of November, according to the report citing market sources.
The latest increase follows a similar revision in June, when ITC raised the price of a pack of 10 cigarettes from ₹115 to ₹125. The two successive hikes have taken the pack's price up by ₹20, representing a cumulative rise of approximately 17.4% from its previous price of ₹115.
The latest price adjustment comes against the backdrop of increased taxation on cigarettes, which has created fresh challenges for organised players. The higher tax burden has also increased the price differential between cigarettes sold through legal channels and those available in the illicit market.
ITC, in its September-quarter business update, acknowledged continued weakness in legal cigarette industry volumes. It said the company was taking measured steps to address the possibility of consumers shifting disproportionately towards illicit products, while attempting to retain its existing customer base.
The pressure has also affected the company's cigarette segment earnings. ITC reported a 27.2% annual decline in cigarette business profit to ₹3,813 crore in the September quarter, against ₹5,241 crore in the same quarter of the previous year. Net revenue from cigarettes dropped 21% during the period.
Gold Flake Premium's regular-size category holds considerable weight in ITC's cigarette portfolio. Market sources estimate that this segment contributes around 46-50% of the company's overall cigarette revenue.
The cigarette business is also among ITC's most profitable operations, with margins estimated to touch 70%. This makes pricing decisions particularly important as the company attempts to absorb the impact of higher taxes without making its products significantly less affordable for consumers.
Alongside price adjustments, ITC is looking to expand its cigarette offerings through additional variants and trademarks aimed at attracting consumers with international brand preferences. The strategy is also intended to strengthen its position against foreign cigarette brands entering the Indian market through smuggling networks.
ITC has separately drawn attention to the rising number of seizures involving illicit cigarette shipments. The company believes illegal operators are increasingly taking advantage of differences in taxation to compete with legally manufactured products.
The latest Gold Flake Premium price increase comes as ITC attempts to protect its cigarette business from shrinking legal-market volumes, higher taxation and competition from the illicit cigarette trade.
Garvit Bhirani is a journalist based in Gurugram. He is a Deputy Chief Content Producer at LiveMint, where he covers national and international news stories, focusing on accuracy and compelling storytelling for readers. <br><br> With a total of six years of experience in journalism, he has previously worked with Vaco Binary Semantics for Google, taking on the role of news curation lead, and reported from the field on health, education, and agriculture stories for 101reporters and News9. He has also served as a content editor for entertainment and news media organisations. <br><br> Garvit holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and mass communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Gurugram University, respectively. During college days, he joined India’s only non-profit student journalism network, where he anchored daily news updates and produced his own weekly show called ‘Data Fix’. <br><br> He was selected for the YES Foundation Media for Social Change Fellowship in Delhi, the Talking Data to the Fourth Pillar residential workshop, and the VOICE Fellowship in Pune. <br><br> He holds certificates in COVID-19-verification reporting, data journalism, food & agriculture, tech policy, media literacy and countering misinformation, and tackling election disinformation courses from Thomson Foundation, IndiaSpend, The Dialogue, US Mission in India, and AFP. <br><br> He can be reached on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/garvit-bhirani">LinkedIn</a> or on <a href="https://x.com/GarvitBhirani">@garvitbhirani</a> on X
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