Demonetisation drive disrupted wholesale distribution channels: ITC

"In the recent past, there had been disturbances in the wholesale channels due to demonetisation which led to unavailibility of ITC's FMCG products in many stores", CEO of the company Sanjiv Puri said while replying to shareholders' at the AGM here.

The shareholders expressed grievances that ITC's FMCG products were difficult to locate at super stores. The company manufactures a plethora of FMCG (non-cigarette) ranging from shampoo, soaps, biscuits, perfumes, packaged foods and others.

Puri, echoing Chairman Y C Deveshwar, said that there were many practical difficulties in getting store space which would go away once the segment assumed enough scale.

Expressing concern over the taxation on cigarettes, Puri said "It is a major cause for worry".

There had been 202 per cent rise in tax which had led to smuggling of cigarettes and shift towards other forms of tobacco consumption.

Regarding the hotels business, he said that the industry was poised for a boom and many property were currently under construction.

ITC recently commissioned the integrated consumer goods manufacturing facility at Guwahati.

Shares of ITC on Friday ended 1 per cent higher after the company reported 7.37 per cent rise in standalone net profit for first quarter ended June 30.

The stock gained 0.90 per cent to settle at Rs 291.25 on BSE. Intra-day, it went up by 2.16 per cent to Rs 294.90.

At NSE, shares of the company rose 1 per cent to end at Rs 291.55. The company's market valuation rose by Rs 3,440.97 crore to Rs 3,54,212.97 crore.

In terms of volume, 13.29 lakh shares of the company were traded on BSE and over one crore shares changed hands at NSE during the day.

Diversified conglomerate ITC on Thursday reported 7.37 per cent rise in standalone net profit to Rs 2,560.50 crore for June quarter. PTI