ITC fourth-quarter profit rises 10 percent; beats estimates

(Reuters) - India's biggest cigarette maker ITC Ltd posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday, helped by a fall in excise duty.

Profit for the quarter ended March 31 came in at 29.33 billion rupees ($432.44 million) from 26.69 billion rupees reported last year, the company, which also makes biscuits and noodles under the Sunfeast brand, said https://bit.ly/2L6bFdd.

Analysts on average expected a net profit of 28.45 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Revenue from operations fell 28 percent to 108.13 billion rupees, while excise duty paid was down about 94 percent.

($1 = 67.8250 Indian rupees)

(Reporting By Arnab Paul in Bengaluru; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)