ITC Q4 net profit up 18 percent, beats forecast

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's largest cigarette maker, ITC Ltd, said fourth-quarter net profit grew 18 percent, beating market expectations, on price hikes and an uptick in sales of cheaper cigarettes.

ITC, India's fourth-biggest company by market value, said in a statement on Friday its net profit rose to 22.78 billion rupees for the quarter ended March 31, up from 19.3 billion rupees a year earlier.

Analysts had expected ITC's earnings to rise 15 percent to 22.16 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine Estimates.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)