Cigarette stocks rally as 'sin tax' concerns go up in smoke

Under the sin tax proposal, cigarettes will have the highest slab of 28%, plus cess

The stocks of cigarette makers rallied on Friday as concerns on a higher ‘sin tax’ abated with the government keeping the rates on cigarettes unchanged in the goods and services tax (GST) regime.

The Centre has capped the tax rate on cigarettes at 290 per cent over the next five years on expectations that the initial tax rate on this industry will have a neutral impact.

ITC Ltd, which has a 79 per cent market share, rose by over 7.5 per cent to touch Rs288.90 on the BSE in intra-day trade, close to its lifetime high of Rs292. The