Kolkata-based conglomerate ITC Ltd. is seeing its shares spike after Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman presented this year’s Union Budget.

ITC shares briefly plunged after Sitharaman announced that the government is planning to hike the national calamity contingent duty (NCCD) on specified cigarettes to 16%.

The negative sentiments seem to have flipped soon after, given that the announced hike is actually below the NCCD predicted by analysts.

The hike in NCCD was anticipated by Jefferies analysts ahead of the budget presentation at a much higher rate of 33%, which would have translated into a 3.5% added tax on affected cigarettes.

The actual announced hike of 16% is anticipated to only translate into an added tax of 2% to 2.5%, according to CNBC-TV18 estimates.

Price Action: ITC shares traded 1.5% higher at ₹357.85 at the time of writing on Wednesday.

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