Brands
Up in smoke: India levies brutal new taxes on tobacco products
NEW DELHI: India’s 100 million cigarette smokers are about to get a painful reminder that their habit is taxing—literally. From 1 February, the government has slapped on a punishing new excise duty that will make lighting up considerably more expensive, replacing the old compensation cess with a regime that’s anything but compensating.
The finance ministry’s late-night notification on Wednesday laid out the damage: excise duty ranging from Rs 2,050 to Rs 8,500 per 1,000 sticks, depending on cigarette length. That’s on top of a whopping 40 per cent GST. Call it a two-pronged attack on the nation’s tobacco consumers.
The market reaction was swift and brutal. ITC, the maker of Gold Flake and Classic cigarettes and the country’s market leader, saw its shares drop 2 per cent. Godfrey Phillips India—Marlboro’s local distributor—fared worse, tumbling 4.1 per cent. At one point during trading, both stocks were down as much as 8 per cent. ITC led the Nifty 50’s losers and dragged down the FMCG index, which slid 0.6 per cent.
The new regime draws a curious distinction: whilst cigarettes, pan masala and tobacco products face the full 40 per cent GST assault, bidis (rolled tobacco leaves, the poor man’s smoke) get off relatively lightly at 18 per cent. Social engineering or political calculation? You decide.
The changes represent more than just a tax shuffle. Parliament approved two bills in December creating a health and national security cess on pan masala manufacturing and additional excise duties on tobacco. The finance ministry’s Wednesday notification made 1 February the D-day for implementation, simultaneously killing off the GST compensation cess that has lingered like stale smoke.
That compensation cess has quite the backstory. Born with the GST regime in 2017, it promised states a 14 per cent annual revenue bump for five years. When covid-19 hammered collections in 2020-21, the government took out back-to-back loans to plug the gap, extending the cess until March 2026 to service the debt.
But the 56th GST Council, meeting on 3 September, decided to snuff out the cess early—at least for most products. The council limited its scope to tobacco items only, until the pandemic loans were fully repaid. With Wednesday’s notification, that limited exemption has now expired, replaced by the new excise and cess regime.
The finance ministry also notified the Chewing Tobacco, Jarda Scented Tobacco and Gutkha Packing Machines (Capacity Determination and Collection of Duty) Rules, 2026—a mouthful of bureaucracy to match the mouthful of carcinogens these products represent.
For India’s tobacco industry and its vast consumer base, the message is clear as cigarette smoke in a closed room: this habit will cost you. The government has decided that if it can’t stamp out smoking entirely, it might as well profit handsomely from those who persist. One suspects the only thing going up faster than the taxes will be the black market.
Brands
Delhivery chairman Deepak Kapoor, independent director Saugata Gupta quit board
Gurugram: Delhivery’s boardroom is being reset. Deepak Kapoor, chairman and independent director, has resigned with effect from April 1 as part of a planned board reconstitution, the logistics company said in an exchange filing. Saugata Gupta, managing director and chief executive of FMCG major Marico and an independent director on Delhivery’s board, has also stepped down.
Kapoor exits after an eight-year stint that included steering the company through its 2022 stock-market debut, a period that saw Delhivery transform from a venture-backed upstart into one of India’s most visible logistics platforms. Gupta, who joined the board in 2021, departs alongside him, marking a simultaneous clearing of two senior independent seats.
“Deepak and Saugata have been instrumental in our process of recognising the need for and enabling the reconstitution of the board of directors in line with our ambitious next phase of growth,” said Sahil Barua, managing director and chief executive, Delhivery. The statement frames the exits less as departures and more as deliberate succession, a boardroom shuffle timed to the company’s evolving scale and strategy.
The resignations arrive amid broader governance recalibration. In 2025, Delhivery appointed Emcure Pharmaceuticals whole-time director Namita Thapar, PB Fintech founder and chairman Yashish Dahiya, and IIM Bangalore faculty member Padmini Srinivasan as independent directors, signalling a tilt towards consumer, fintech and academic expertise at the board level.
Kapoor’s tenure spanned Delhivery’s most defining years, rapid network expansion, public listing and the push towards profitability in a bruising logistics market. Gupta’s presence brought FMCG and brand-scale perspective during a period when ecommerce volumes and last-mile delivery economics were being rewritten.
The twin exits, effective from the new financial year, underscore a familiar corporate rhythm: founders consolidate, veterans rotate out, and fresh voices are ushered in to script the next chapter. In India’s hyper-competitive logistics race, even the boardroom does not stand still.
Brands
Brnd.me enters Europe as haircare brands power global expansion
Bengaluru: Brnd.me, the global consumer brands company formerly known as Mensa Brands, has entered the European market following strong momentum across the Middle East, the United States and Canada.
The company has launched across the UK, Germany, France and Spain, with plans to expand into Italy, the Netherlands and Poland over the next year. The push is being led by its haircare and aromatherapy brands, Botanic Hearth and Majestic Pure, marking Brnd.me’s first structured expansion into Europe.
The European beauty market represents a total addressable opportunity of over $4 billion across haircare and aromatherapy, supported by high digital adoption and demand for accessible, performance-led products.
Brnd.me’s hair care and aromatherapy business currently operates at an annual run rate of around $6 million, with Botanic Hearth and Majestic Pure delivering roughly 10 per cent month-on-month growth, driven by expansion and rising repeat demand.
To support regional growth, the company has appointed a general manager based in Germany and is evaluating investments in warehousing and local team expansion.
Early traction has been strong. Within weeks of launch, Botanic Hearth’s rosemary hair oil ranked among the top five hair oils in Germany, signalling strong consumer pull in a competitive market.
Brnd.me founder and chief executive officer Ananth Narayanan, said Europe represents the next phase of the company’s international strategy. He added that the European business is expected to scale to a $10 million annual run rate by the end of 2026, with long-term ambitions to reach $60 million over the next six years.
The company’s Europe strategy centres on digital-first distribution, repeat demand and TikTok-led discovery, alongside direct-to-consumer expansion to strengthen brand equity and margins.
The move also aligns with growing EU–India trade engagement, supporting long-term sourcing and cross-border supply chains.
Brands
TechnoSport taps quick commerce with launch on Slikk’s 60-minute platform
NATIONAL: TechnoSport has launched on Slikk, the ultra-fast fashion app offering 60-minute delivery, as the activewear brand accelerates its push into quick commerce to capture Gen Z and young millennial shoppers.
The debut brings more than 150 high-performance styles to Slikk’s platform, with an average selling price of Rs 450, expanding TechnoSport’s reach across over 80 pin codes.
The partnership follows strong momentum for TechnoSport across Q-commerce channels, where the brand has recorded around 60 per cent volume growth over the past six months. The company expects quick commerce to contribute nearly 20 per cent of its revenue in the coming years as hyperlocal delivery gains scale.
Slikk, which recently raised $3.2 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed, has rapidly gained popularity among youth consumers seeking speed, trend relevance and impulse-led shopping experiences.
Activewear remains one of Slikk’s fastest-growing categories, driven by shoppers increasingly treating fitness-led fashion as an everyday essential. The platform has reported a 30-fold year-on-year increase in items sold, reflecting rising demand for performance wear that blends comfort with style.
TechnoSport chief executive officer Puspen Maity, said the collaboration would help the brand engage more closely with young consumers whose fashion choices are shaped by instant needs and lifestyle aspirations. He added that rapid delivery bridges the gap between intent and purchase, allowing shoppers to access activewear exactly when they want it.
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