Avoid ITC, says Gaurang Kakkad

Gaurang Kakkad, Vice President of Institutional Research at Religare Capital Markets told CNBC-TV18, "Post the hike in excise duty in the Union Budget, we had downgraded ITC from a buy to a hold. We still would not prefer the stock given that this quarter as well, cigarette volumes will decline in double digits. So we expect around 10-11 percent kind of a volume de-growth."

"I think overall topline as well as earnings growth would be low single digit and valuations haven’t still corrected materially for the stock. So the stock would still be trading at somewhere in line with the historic average multiple. So ITC we would avoid and we have a hold rating on the stock as of now," he added.