ITC Hikes Cigarette Prices Again as Classic Connect Rises to ₹428, Gold Flake Super Star to ₹89

NEW DELHI — ITC Ltd has raised prices on select cigarette brands for the second time in a matter of months, with Classic Connect and Gold Flake Super Star both seeing fresh increases to their maximum retail prices. According to dealer checks reported by NDTV Profit, stock carrying the revised prices has already begun entering the market as of Tuesday, September 16, 2026.

The Classic Connect 20-cigarette pack is now priced at ₹428, up from ₹390 previously, an increase of ₹38, or roughly 9.74 percent. Gold Flake Super Star's 10-cigarette pack has climbed even more sharply in percentage terms, rising to ₹89 from ₹79, a jump of ₹10, or approximately 12.66 percent.

The Third Round of Hikes This Year

What makes this latest increase notable is that it is not an isolated event but the continuation of a pattern that has played out repeatedly through 2026. Industry reports indicate that in February, ITC had already raised the Classic Connect pack from ₹300 to ₹360, before pushing it further to ₹390 in a subsequent revision. Gold Flake Super Star followed a similar trajectory over the same period, moving up from ₹59 before eventually reaching ₹79. This week's adjustment to ₹428 and ₹89 respectively therefore represents at least the third distinct price movement for these two products within the same calendar year.

That repeated cadence of increases points to a company still working through the process of passing an elevated tax burden onto consumers in stages, rather than absorbing the full impact in one move. Whether further revisions follow before the year is out will likely depend on how demand responds to the cumulative effect of these back-to-back hikes.

The underlying driver behind this year's repeated price revisions is a structural change to how cigarettes and other tobacco products are taxed in India. Effective February 1, 2026, cigarettes and tobacco products moved to a 40 percent Goods and Services Tax rate, alongside the introduction of a new, additional excise-duty structure layered on top of that GST rate. That combination represented a meaningfully heavier tax load on the industry than what had existed previously.

Cigarette manufacturers, ITC foremost among them given its dominant position in the Indian cigarette market, responded to this shift not with a single, immediate price correction but through multiple rounds of increases spread across the year, as companies worked to offset the higher tax burden without triggering too sharp a demand shock in any one instance. This week's revision to Classic Connect and Gold Flake Super Star fits squarely into that ongoing pattern of incremental pass-through pricing.

A Familiar Playbook for ITC

This is far from the first time India's largest cigarette maker has raised prices in response to shifting tax policy, and the company's approach this year echoes a strategy it has employed repeatedly over the past decade whenever GST or excise structures have changed. When the original GST Council revised compensation cess rates on cigarettes in July 2017, for instance, ITC similarly moved quickly to adjust its brand-wise MRPs, raising Gold Flake Kings and Classic Rich to ₹300 per 20-pack at the time, alongside a comparable increase for its Navy Cut Filter brand.

That earlier round of hikes, like the current one, was explicitly framed by industry analysts as a mechanism to preserve operating margins rather than absorb higher costs internally. Following that 2017 revision, ITC's cigarette business posted a five percent rise in revenue with margins expanding by more than 100 basis points year-on-year, illustrating how the company has historically managed to pass tax increases through to consumers while keeping its profitability broadly intact.

What This Means for Smokers and the Broader Market

For consumers, the practical impact is straightforward, a pack of Classic Connect that cost ₹390 as recently as a few months ago now costs ₹428, and a 10-stick pack of Gold Flake Super Star that was priced at ₹79 now costs ₹89. Given that these two brands sit among ITC's more widely purchased offerings, the cumulative effect of three rounds of price increases within a single year is likely to be felt broadly across the retail cigarette market rather than confined to a narrow segment of premium buyers.

From a public health policy standpoint, the steep tax and price increases align with the stated intent behind raising tobacco taxation in the first place, namely to reduce consumption by making cigarettes progressively more expensive. Whether this particular round of hikes achieves that effect in practice, or whether demand remains relatively steady despite the increased cost, is likely to become clearer only once ITC reports its next set of quarterly results and discloses how cigarette sales volumes have moved in response.

For now, the immediate takeaway is clear, India's tobacco taxation overhaul earlier this year has translated into a sustained, multi-round pricing response from the country's dominant cigarette manufacturer, with this week's increase marking the latest, though not necessarily the final, adjustment smokers can expect to see on store shelves this year.