ITC showered wealth on foreign promoters! Two companies of BAT got dividend of Rs 3,896 crore

Two units associated with British American Tobacco (BAT) have received a total dividend of Rs 3,895.74 crore from Indian group ITC in the financial year 2025-26. According to ITC’s latest annual report, BAT has a strategic investment in ITC through three units (Tobacco Manufacturers (India) Limited (TMI), Madleton Investment Company Limited and Rothmans International Enterprises Limited). ITC gave a total dividend of Rs 3,895.75 crore to TMI and Madleton Investment Company in the financial year 2025-26, while this figure was Rs 4,238.93 crore in the financial year 2024-25. Thus, an annual decline of about 8.1 percent was recorded.

share has decreased

In the financial year 2025-26, ITC paid a dividend of Rs 3,197.89 crore to TMI and Rs 697.86 crore to Madleton Investment Company. However, the annual report does not mention the dividend paid to Rothmans International Enterprises, which holds 1.24 percent stake. As of March 2026, TMI’s stake in ITC stood at 17.79 percent and Madleton Investment Company’s stake was 3.88 percent, while Rothmans International Enterprises held 1.24 percent. The reason for reduction in dividend has been attributed to the decline in the stake of BAT related units in ITC. TMI has reduced its stake in ITC in the last two years.

ITC bought trademarks from BAT

Apart from this, in FY 2026, ITC also paid Rs 403.61 crore to purchase trademarks of three brands from BAT for the Indian market. According to the report, ITC purchased property, plant, equipment and intangible assets worth Rs 286.14 crore from Benson & Hedges (Overseas) Ltd, Rs 73.14 crore from Dunhill Tobacco of London Ltd and Rs 44.33 crore from Rothmans of Pall Mall Ltd during FY 2026. The annual report also provided information about related-party transactions between ITC and several BAT Group companies during the year.

Sales of goods and services to British American Tobacco (GLP) Ltd stood at Rs 1,587.03 crore in FY 2026, which was Rs 1,445.27 crore a year ago. Similarly, the sales of goods and services to British American Shared Services (GSD) Ltd, a company providing IT shared services, also increased to Rs 739.69 crore in the financial year 2026. A year ago this figure was Rs 562.41 crore.