FMCG stocks up ahead of GST meet

FMCG stock were buzzing on the bourses ahead of the ongoing GST Council meeting held in Guwahati on Thursday. The agenda for the meeting includes reworking GST rates and simplifying online filing of GST returns.

The benchmark indices were marginally buoyed by the upward momentum in index stocks including Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, while ITC witnessed a dip. FMCG stocks including Hindustan Unilever was trading higher at Rs. 1,255.45 per share, up by 1.63 per cent, Asian Paints was at Rs. 1,192.75 per share, up by 1.75 per cent, whereas ITC was at Rs. 262.65, down 1.04 per cent.

It is expected that the Council will recalibrate the tax rates for several small utility goods which are currently placed in the 28 per cent slab, leaving only luxury and sin items in this tax slab.

The GST Council is focusing on reducing the distressed faced by the SMEs and trader community post the implementation of GST. The burden of compliance is hampering the ease of doing business as well as adding to the operational cost of small enterprises.

Meanwhile, stocks on the Nifty FMCG index including Tata Global beverage was trading at Rs. 230.60 per share, up by 2.72 per cent, Colgate Palmolive was at Rs. 1,035.95, up 1.48 per cent, Britannia was at Rs. 4,712.40, up 1.27 per cent. Electric fitting stocks like Crompton Consumer, V-Guard, Bajaj Electricals, Finolex Cables also were trading in the positive zone.