Prefer ITC, Britannia: Ajay Bodke

Ajay Bodke of Prabhudas Liladher told CNBC-TV18, "We believe that the rural demand will continue to be extremely buoyant. We have had the best monsoon since 2001 although we have also had late rains spoiling crop in certain parts of East in particular. We believe that the rural consumption theme is something that we need to caught on to and that is why we prefer sort of plays like ITC and Britannia Industries in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) space."

"There has been a sharp spurt in terms of the input cost for Hindustan Unilever (HUL), in particular the fatty palm oil prices which is the major ingredients in their soaps and detergent business. Our preference would remain firmly with ITC in the largecap space and Britannia in the midcap space," he said. "Companies like Hero Motocorp and Bajaj Auto clearly are the favoured bets in the auto space playing on the rural consumption theme vis-à-vis plays like Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) and Maruti Suzuki India."