Diversified ITC Ltd has posted a 6 per cent rise in income in the third quarter of this fiscal compared with the same period last year despite a slowdown in consumption across the country.

The company, which earns a major chunk of its profit from the sale of cigarettes, recorded a 29 per cent rise in net profit, mainly driven by the corporate tax cut announced by the Centre in September 2019.

The consolidated total income went up to Rs 13,960.5 crore in September-December of 2019-20 from Rs 13,168.80 crore, while the consolidated net profit (after tax and exceptional item) jumped to Rs 4,050.40 crore from Rs 3,140.52 crore in same period of 2018-19.

ITC informed the bourses that it has booked a tax credit of Rs 331.48 crore for the last quarter compared with Rs 349.62 crore in the quarter ending September 2019.

The segment result of the Calcutta-based behemoth showed that all the businesses — cigarettes, FMCG (food, health & personal care, etc), hotels, agri business, paper and IT — showed positive momentum.

Likewise, pre tax profit (segment result) showed an uptick in all the businesses, except paperboards, paper and packaging where profits were nearly flat.

Cigarettes continued to do the heavy lifting, growing 6.4 per cent on a higher base. At Rs 4,006.39 crore, it accounted for 79.3 per cent profit before tax (Rs 5,049.25 crore) of ITC.

Before the result hit the market, the ITC stock closed at Rs 235.25, up Rs 1.40.